The Ultimate Test (formerly Spirit Unleashed)
by damonforever86
Summary: Following a recent Strigoi attack, Adrian has been struggling with the side effects of Spirit. Sydney must figure out what to do when faced with the ever present threat of re-education. The ultimate question still remains: Will love or legislation prevail?
1. Chapter 1

I stood on top of a hill, slightly obscured by a nearby tree. I couldn't risk being seen by any of the Alchemists. It was already nearly two o'clock and the sun was beginning to beat down. This was a minor detail, that didn't matter anymore. In fact, nothing much mattered these days.

My heightened senses made me aware that that the priest was now reciting his closing prayer. After the prayer finished, the saddened onlookers gave their last condolences to the family. Within fifteen minutes everyone had cleared out except for the three people still standing in front of the headstone. Now, I just had to wait a little bit longer before they got into the car that was waiting for them.

Finally, the youngest member of the family got into the car and closed the door swiftly behind her. I felt water on my face, and automatically looked up to see if it was raining. I already knew the answer before I had looked at the sky. It was still a perfectly hot and sunny day. There was not a cloud in the sky.

I reached up and wiped away another tear that threatened to stain my flawless features. I, however, knew that this was no longer true. I had looked at myself in the mirror several times in the last few days. I looked terrible. In fact, I couldn't think of a time when I had possibly looked worse, save one.

That was the day that it had happened. Slowly, I walked down the hill and across the small dirt road to the enter the cemetery. I placed the daffodils on the ground in front of the headstone. "I miss you so much. I loved you so much. I still do. You were always there when I needed you, even when I was being a pain. I would have done anything for you. I hope that you know that. I would have died for you if I could have. I- I wish that there was something that I could do.

Anything that I could do- really. I don't know how I'm going to get through this. I'm not going to be able to do this without you. The effects of spirit, have been overwhelming. I haven't been myself lately. It's getting worse darling. I need you to come back. I can't live like this."

I placed my hand on the headstone and ran over every detail of the engraving.

I got up from the ground, and absentmindedly wiped the dirt of off my jeans.

"I'll be back for you tomorrow my love" I said, my voice breaking as more tears streamed down my face. This time, I didn't wipe them away. Instead, I took a deep breath and pulled something out of my pocket. I bent down and placed it on top of the daffodils that I had brought for her. Then I turned around and walked away, the golden hewn lily glistening in the sun.

The one thing that I forgot, was that sometimes things are not as they seem.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in a cold sweat and sat up so quickly that I became dizzy. Automatically, my hands reached over and felt the emptiness of the spot next to mine. Sydney had always slept on the right side of the bed. I placed my hands on top of her pillow, squeezing it softly. For a brief moment, I thought that I could smell the scent of her perfume. Then I began to imagine that the bed was still warm, where a person had inevitably been sleeping.

Slowly, I laid back down. I placed my hand over her pillow and held it against my chest. I tried to talk myself down. "It's going to be ok" I whispered. "I'll get through this_." I have to get through this, I thought to myself. I'm Adrian Ivashkov. I can find another girl. I could get nearly any girl that I wanted_.

The problem was, that I didn't want another girl. I didn't want just any girl. I wanted Sydney. I needed Sydney. My brain wasn't having any of this nonsense. _You must let her go Adrian. She's gone. She's-_ I couldn't even bring myself to finish the thought.

I tossed and turned the whole rest of the night until there was a knock on my door in the morning. Instantly, I leapt out of the bed and ran toward the door when I heard my name being called. "Yes, I'm here. I'm coming" I said, excitedly as I ran past the furniture and jumped over a ruined art canvas on the floor.

I hadn't painted in nearly a week. I hadn't had the desire or the strength to continue. I had thrown most of my paintings out. I had only kept one and it was locked away in my closet. I opened the door to see Jill standing there. My face fell.

"Hi Jill" I said, glumly. She greeted me and I closed the door behind her. She grimaced at the sound that it made. I hadn't really meant to slam it like that. "Adrian" she said, in that tone that made me feel like a child. "I'm really worried about you. You've barely left your apartment at all in the last week. You need to get out of here. You look awful. This place is a mess. Sydney's not going to be very happy when she gets back."

"Gets back? How could you even say that Jill? She's never coming back. She's gone. She's dead! What is wrong with you? I asked, in astonishment.

Jill walked toward me hesitantly. "Adrian, she's alive. You've been having those dreams again."

I looked at Jill, perplexed. "What are you talking about? You're the crazy one. Sydney died. She was killed by a Strigoi. I was there. I saw it. I held her as she died. I kissed her as she died" I said, furious that I would have to relive this moment again.

Jill looked at me with pity and concern in her eyes. She looked like she was going to call a mental hospital and have me admitted. She dared to take one step closer to me but I took a step back.

"It's true that you and Sydney were attacked by Strigoi. It's also true that Sydney was severely injured, but she's alive Adrian. You have to believe me." Jill looked more determined and focused than ever. "Spirit has been really bad for you lately Adrian. Ever since the attack you haven't been yourself. It took all that you had to keep her alive Adrian. It took every ounce of your power to keep both of you alive. It was very lucky that Lissa was able to help."

There were tears in her eyes now. "You might not have made it, had Lissa not helped you. You could have died Adrian." I could see that Jill was becoming very upset. Even though I was in no condition to comfort her, I hugged Jill tightly for a brief moment.

"So basically you're telling me that I'm crazy right?" I asked. Jill looked at me but didn't respond. "Spirit is making me go insane and I'm just imagining that Sydney is dead?" Then something she said earlier struck me. "Wait. You said that I was having this dream again. This has happened before? You've told me about this before?" I asked.

"Yes" Jill whispered. "You seem to forget everything that happened to you and Sydney, during the night. It's like Spirit is making you forget, as well as all of its other side effects."

I didn't want to let Jill know how much this information truly concerned me. Instead I decided to focus on a different part of our conversation. A large smile replaced the frown that I had worn earlier. "Sydney's alive!" I put my hands on Jill's shoulders, shaking her gently. "Well what are we waiting for? Where is she? I want to see her."

Jill bit down on her lip and rubbed her hands together. It was clear that she was nervous about telling me something. "What is it Jill?" She took a deep breath before continuing. "She's in a coma, Adrian" she said, solemnly.


	3. Chapter 3

I looked down at my feet to conceal the sadness and pain that I was feeling in that moment. Then I took in the reality of the situation and realized what had occurred. This same conversation must have taken place every day for the past week. Jill must have been exasperated by the amount of times that she had inevitably been forced to explain this situation.

"I'm so sorry" Jill said, placing her hand on my arm. I shook my head, still in disbelief. _How could this all possibly be happening?_ I walked away from Jill and sat down on the couch. It was only then, that I got a good look at my apartment. It was completely filthy.

There was green paint covering the floor. All of the rest of my paintings looked like they had been thrown on the floor and stomped on. There were plastic red cups and several packs of cigarettes strewn all over the floor.

"Was there a party here last night?" I asked, confused. Jill stayed quiet for a moment and then looked me straight in the eyes. "Adrian- she said, hesitantly. "There was no party. This was you, all of it. This is what you've been doing all week." I picked up on the note of disdain and sadness in her voice.

"Why can't I remember this? Any of this? What's happening to me Jill? I feel like I'm going crazy."

"We don't know the exact reason. We just know that it must be related to Spirit somehow. I think that it might be some sort of post traumatic stress disorder type thing" she said, sounding scholarly as she spoke.

"Who is "we" exactly?" I asked.

"Well me, Eddie, Angeline, Lissa, and - she stopped talking abruptly.

"Who Jill? Who else has been part of diagnosing my mental state?"

"Rose" she whispered.

I jumped up off the couch and began pacing the room. "This is wonderful. Sydney's in a coma. I'm going more insane from Spirit than I've ever been. Now the only other girl that I've ever loved, not only knows about this but playing therapist too. I don't need this. I hope that she is not in Palm Springs because that is the last thing that I want to deal with right now" I said, angrily.

One look at Jill's face told me the answer. "We needed the extra help Adrian. She's only here temporarily. She's only here until Sydney-

She didn't need to finish that sentence. I was rushing to my room before she had a chance to say anything else. I opened the top drawer of my dresser and started throwing my socks around. I removed everything from the drawer, making the mess in apartment even worse. I didn't care. There was only one thing that I cared about. "Where is it?" I yelled.

"I need it now! Where is it at?" I screamed.

Jill looked perplexed. "Where is what Adrian? I'll help you. Let me help you" she said, soothingly.

"The necklace ,Jill. Where is the necklace? I need it. I gave Sydney a new one when she lost her first one. She gave it to me for safe keeping when she went away for a couple of days to meet with the Alchemists. Then she called and I knew she was in trouble. I left immediately but I didn't bring the necklace. "I need it now" I said, haughtily.

"Calm down Adrian. It's ok. We'll find it" Jill assured me.

Finally, I began to calm down. "Ok let's look" I said. Jill nodded and we began to search my room. After about half an hour Jill suddenly called out "Found it."

Immediately, I rushed over to her. In her hand was a small golden cross necklace. It belonged to Sydney and I was in charge of keeping it safe. I held the necklace tightly in my hand, not wanting anything to happen to it. "Alright, let's go" I exclaimed.

"Where are we going?" Jill asked.

"We are going to go see Sage. I am going to heal her."


	4. Chapter 4

I rushed over to the door not wanting to waste any more time. Just as I turned the doorknob, just as I heard Jill shriek my name. "Wait Adrian-

It was too late. I had already opened the door and saw the girl with long brown hair standing right in front of me. "Hey Adrian" she said, hesitantly.

"Get out of the way Rose" I said, impatiently.

"Nice to see you too" she replied. She was looking at me in a way that suggested she was both, dissatisfied with my behavior and pitied me simultaneously. I shot an accusatory look at Jill. She merely shrugged her shoulders, as though she had no idea what to do.

"It wasn't her fault. I insisted on coming here with her. She needs protection."

"She has Eddie as protection" I insisted.

"Eddie's busy. He has to do something with Angeline. Plus Lissa has insisted that I stay with you for a little bit. She is concerned about the effects that Spirit is having. If it'll make you feel better, I'd much rather be with her. Dimitri is her guardian for now, but I'm worried the effects healing _you_ had on _her."_

"Ok I'm glad to hear it. Now, if you will be so kind as to get out of my way, I will be able to make my way to the Mustang."

To my surprise, Rose stepped aside. I saw Jill exchange a look with Rose that said _It's Adrian. _I had gotten too used to seeing those looks from everyone that I came in contact with.

The one person who had never looked at me like that was Sage. Even when I frustrated her, Sydney never doubted me. She always knew that there was a real person underneath my brash exterior. She understood me, as I did her. No one else had ever come close to discovering the real Adrian except for her.

I waited as Jill and Rose entered my car. Then quickly, I shifted gears and took off down the road.

The hospital was only a few miles down the road. The problem wasn't getting there, so much as it was getting in to see Sydney. The hospital security shouldn't be too much of a problem. I had Jill and Rose along to help me with that. I could even resort to compulsion if necessary. The real trouble would be if there happened to be any Alchemists around.

Worse yet, if any of Sydney's family members were around this could be a slight imposition. Compulsion would still work on an Alchemist, but their resistance would be a lot greater. In the event that there were more than one Alchemist present, I would have to resort to another plan.

We walked into the hospital and immediately started looking for signs that led us to the Intensive Care Unit. "I've been to this part of the hospital before" Jill said, knowingly. "They are only going to let one of us in there." She looked at me for a moment and surprised me by giving me a hug. "Good luck Adrian" she said. Rose merely stared at us for a moment.

"Do your thing" she said, as I turned and walked toward the security desk, outside of the ICU.

Our cover in Palm Springs, conveniently allowed for all sorts of fake identities and papers. I took out my driver's license that had the name _Adrian Melrose_ written on it. "Hello I'm here to visit my sister, Sydney Melrose. She's in bed four" I said, in my most charming voice. Sydney's sister, Zoe had kindly provided Jill with all of the information.

The girl at the desk looked up from reading her book. "Ok let me see your identification" she said, in a monotone voice. The way the girl looked at me told me that she probably would have let me in, even if I had inconveniently forgotten my license. I walked toward the door and the girl buzzed me in.

I scanned the large room as quickly as I could for directions. I saw a sign and went to my right. On the very end of the row was a bed that had a number four hanging above it. I saw the beautiful blond hair that lay on the bed in a messy fashion. Sydney's glasses were sitting over on a bedside table. I saw a couple of monitors and several wires that were connected to her body.

She looked skinnier than I had ever seen her. Her skin was pale, but still seemed to glisten in a magical way that made me adore her even more.

I sat down on the edge of her bed. I took my hand and wrapped it gently around her small wrist. I placed my other on her beautiful, golden hair, repositioning it as I touched it.

I held back the tears as I spoke to her. "Hey Sage, it's Adrian. I've come over here to see you. You've looked better on some occasions. You'll be better soon. I promise. I love you so much. I don't know how much time I'm going to have, so I had better get started. I really hope that this works, you know."

I placed both of my hands on both of hers. I closed my eyes and began to concentrate. I felt the rush of the power of Spirit coursing through my body. Even as I was healing her, I began to feel the effects.

Sydney's body began to warm up a little bit. I watched as her pulse rate increased slightly on the monitor. Within a few minutes, she was beginning to look one hundred percent better. I waited for a few more minutes with bated breath. Each time that her eyes fluttered a little, my heart skipped a beat.

Finally, I gave up and started walking away. As I did so, I heard a voice call out my name. _"Adrian"_ it said. I whipped around and saw that Sydney had spoken my name. Immediately, I ran back to her bed.

"Sydney!" I exclaimed. "I've never been so excited to see anyone."

Her voice was strained but she still managed to get out a few words. "Thank you" she said. I reached for her hand and held it tightly in mine. I kissed her forehead gently.

"You're welcome. I love you so much" I whispered. She placed her hand on my cheek. "I love you- she started to say.

Suddenly, a look of abject terror appeared on her face. "What's wrong Sydney?" I asked

She merely pointed behind me. I turned around and found myself face to face with none other than Jared Sage, Sydney's high ranking Alchemist father standing right behind us.


	5. Chapter 5

There is absolutely no way that I should have been caught off guard. I was a vampire, which meant that my senses were much more enhanced than that of a human. However, I had been totally shocked to see that my attempt at bringing Sydney out of her coma had worked.

In fact, I had been so busy talking to and concentrating on Sydney, that I had never noticed her father walking toward us. Given the chance, I may have been able to come up with some kind of cover story. Sydney might have had a chance to think of something had she not been so drained, physically and emotionally. Instead, intense fear and worry gripped my mind. _What was I going to say to this man? Did he hear what we had said to one another? Is there any way to get out of this horrible predicament? Should I even attempt compulsion on him? Would Sydney approve?_

Instead of doing anything reasonable, I immediately stood to attention as though a drill sergeant stood in front of me. "Hello sir" I managed to say feebly. "My name is Adrian Ivashkov and I was just coming to see how Sydney is doing." Jared Sage stared at me with a fierceness even most dhampirs probably would have been afraid of.

"I know who you are" he said, sternly. He walked past me, brushing my left side as he went. "Nurse come here right away" he called down the hallway. "My daughter has woken up and she needs immediate care." A nurse rushed over and quickly introduced herself. Then she began to attend to Sydney. I stepped back as I watched her perform both a physical and mental assessment. During this entire time, Mr. Sage never once glanced in my direction.

He was focused entirely on watching the nurse to make sure that everything was being properly performed. It was at this time, that I decided to take action. I focused on getting Sydney's father to forget. I needed him to forget that he had seen me. I needed him to forget any loving words that Sydney and I had exchanged.

I saw Mr. Sage begin to look around the room as though he were dazed and confused. Then he grabbed his head with both hands. He looked like he was in immense pain.

Sydney looked helpless toward me. _What did you do to him? _she seemed to be asking. I looked back at her just as perplexed. The confused and dazed look was normal for a human who had been compelled. This new intense look of pain was something else entirely.

Soon enough Sydney's father stopped clutching his head. Then he turned toward me with a staggering amount of anger in his eyes. "I cannot be compelled. There is a new element that has just been put into the Alchemist tattoos. It takes a few moments to work, as you can see. It is a very potent piece of magic that is most helpful in several situations."

Then as if nothing had happened, he turned his attention back to Sydney.

"Sydney I am very glad that you are ok" he said, with very little emotion in his voice.

"Well Dad- uh thanks for the concern. Are Mom and Zoe going to come see me?"

Mr. Sage looked thoughtful for a moment. "Your mother and sister may visit you once you are safely out of the hospital."

Then he did something that I had never expected. He took patted Sydney's hand, in what must have been a comforting gesture, coming from him. Sydney looked just as surprised as I was at this fleeting moment of caring. "Listen Sydney, the nurse says that you should probably stay here for another day or two, so that they can make sure you are alright. Although, it seems that you have already made a rather remarkable recovery.

He gave me dirty look. I gulped and took a small step backwards. "I know how important your job is to you" he continued. "I have to tell you though, that I am very, very disappointed in you. Actually, disappointed doesn't even begin to describe what I am feeling right now. I cannot ignore what I have seen and heard here today.

I feel utter revulsion at the thought of it. I cannot stand to stay here for another minute. Sydney you've given me no choice. I will have to call Stanton immediately. We will have to set up a trial date for entrance into re- education.

I can't believe that this has happened to you Sydney, he continued. I hope that we can still save you; but I have my doubts. Once your mother and Zoe come to see you, we will have no contact with you after that. The only hope that you will be redeemed is through re-education. Goodbye Sydney" he said, coldly. With that, he got up and left the ICU.

For several moments nothing happened at all. Then all of a sudden, Sydney burst out crying. She was becoming hysterical. I sat down on the bed and cradled her head on my shoulder. "Adrian" she cried. "What am I going- what am I going to do?"

"I can't go there. I'm so scared. I- I don't know what to do" she whimpered.

I felt Sydney's tears fall on my shirt sleeve. I knew, that above all, I had to be strong. I had to be strong for her, no matter what I was feeling at the moment.

I stroked her face, wiping the remainder of her tears away. I gently kissed her on the forehead once again. "We'll think of something" I assured her.

"Re-education is horrible. It's like being in jail. I can't go there Adrian. I can't" she said, shaking. I had never seen Sydney in such a vulnerable state. She had always been in control and calm in most situations. Now, here I was trying to console her, in a situation that I had no idea how to handle.

"Look at me Sage" I said. She obeyed and I found her deep brown eyes, meeting my own. "We'll get through this. We always do. We have to. I love you too much to have it any other way. I'm very stubborn remember?"

This latest statement actually made her laugh. "Yes" she agreed. "I know that you are." I leaned forward and kissed her gently on the lips. One word loomed in the back of our minds. It was one word that held the power to change everything.


	6. Chapter 6

The hospital decided that Sydney was in good enough condition to discharged the next day. The wait to see Sydney was beyond agonizing. I had spoken with her on the phone. We both agreed that it was best if I wasn't seen with her right now. At this point, I was unsure if anything that we did, or didn't do would make a difference. Eddie and Angeline had picked Sydney up from the hospital and taken her back to Amberwood.

I paced through my apartment awaiting a phone call or text. I had compulsively cleaned the apartment, ever since I heard that Sydney was being discharged. Finally, my phone chimed. _I'm outside of your door_ the text read. I flung the door open and saw Sydney standing there.

Before she could even move, I hugged her tightly, dragging her into my apartment as I went. We sat down on the couch. I tried to restrain myself from immediately kissing her. I wanted to give her an adequate amount of time to recover from everything. Instead, I decided to start up a conversation.

"How are you? Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yes. No. I don't know, Adrian. I just can't believe all of the events that have occurred recently. I mean what are the chances that we get attacked by Strigoi _twice _in the last eight months while living in Palm Springs?

I thought about her question for a moment. "It's really not very likely" I agreed. "Then again, pretty much everything we do is against all odds."

She smiled, a genuine smile that I felt like I hadn't seen in ages. Even though I had healed her, Sydney still looked incredibly worn. She had circles under her eyes from not sleeping enough. She was very thin and looked tired.

"You know, it's truly unbelievable that you are here" I said. Sydney looked at me, confused.

"You don't want me here?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Of course, I want you here. I meant that I can't believe you are still in Palm Springs. It's been eight months that we've been here now. The royal court, is sure taking their time in changing the law for Lissa. Not that I'm complaining. It means that I get to be here longer with you. I just don't know what's going to happen. What are they doing with you and Eddie?" I asked.

"As far, as I know, they will be sending Eddie and I to college" Sydney said, cheerfully. "I think I'm going to go to Carlton." Sydney suddenly looked downcast. "That is, if they don't send me to re-education. I want to be here. I want to be with you" she said. I pulled her close, hugging her tightly.

"I don't know what to do. I don't want to go to re-education. I have to figure out a way to get out of this" she sighed, deeply. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"You should call Stanton" I suggested. "You know that they don't really have any evidence. They only have the words that your father tells them."

"That's just it. You know how much weight my father holds. If he wants me sent to re-education, I'll get sent to re-education."

"They need proof" I protested.

"They'll get proof Adrian. It's the Alchemists. They are experts at gaining evidence and making up stories. Plus this is like the biggest scandal of the century. An Alchemist girl in love with a Moroi- she trailed off. She must have quickly picked up on her mistake.

"In love with?" I repeated. I couldn't help but to smile. Sydney had told me that she loved me many times. I had always suspected that she was in love with me though.

I was in love with her. I had told her so on numerous occasions. I just had never heard those words spoken out loud before. She had never admitted this to anyone, as far as I was aware. She had probably barely admitted it to herself.

Sydney blushed a bright red color. She looked away from my eyes and stared down at the couch for several moments. "Sydney, it's ok. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Look, you already know that I'm in love with you. I have been for quite some time now; even before you were dating _Hayden._

"Brayden" she corrected me, immediately.

I laughed. "Yes, of course, Brayden" I said. She gave me a half smile. Then I moved on to another, more controversial topic. "Did you get to see your mother and sister?"

"Yes, I saw them. I- I said goodbye to them. I'll see them again at the trial" she said quietly. She quickly changed the subject. "You're right Adrian. I need to call Stanton. I have to find out what's going. I just can't sit here and wait around."

"Wow I think I must be dreaming. You've finally admitted that you're in love with me, and you said I'm right?" I could tell that Sydney disapproved of my joke. What I had said, opened up an entirely new topic of conversation.

Sydney placed her hand on top of mine. "Adrian are you ok? Jill told me about the nightmares that you've been having. She said that you've been forgetting things too. She said that Sprit has been having some terrible side effects lately" she said, sounding very concerned.

I had been trying to avoid this conversation. "I'm fine Sage, I swear. I think I'm feeling better, now that you're doing alright."

Sydney stared at me, with those beautiful brown eyes of hers. She didn't look like she quite believed me, but she dropped the topic nonetheless. "I'm going to go call Stanton now" she told me. Slowly Sydney got up from the couch and started walking toward my bedroom.

"Wait" I said. Sydney looked at me for a moment, confused. Then I grabbed her and kissed her. I tried to still be gentle, but that was taking a lot of restraint. She kissed me back, unaware that I was trying to be careful with her. All too soon we pulled apart.

"Now you can go."

Sydney nodded, still staring at my eyes. Then she turned and walked off toward my bedroom. I waited in the living room for her to get done with her phone call. It seemed like she had been in there forever. Finally, I heard the door open and Sydney stepped out.

"Well?" I inquired.

"My trial date is set for 6 weeks from now" she said. "It's on July 31st."


	7. Chapter 7

Sydney's birthday had arrived. It had been two weeks since I had last seen her. I really didn't even know how I had been able to make it this long. Sydney was going out of her way to make sure that she left no evidence that would link us together.

In fact, she had even gone to the trouble of buying a burner phone, like some sort of spy. We had only been communicating through phone and text at this point. Sydney had made sure to tell me all interesting information that she had come to be aware of. That is, there was barely any information that she knew about.

The one piece of highly astonishing news was that Zoe had been taken out of Amberwood.. Now that it was the middle of summer, Zoe would be able to start at a different school in the fall. She had been re-located and given a different assignment. The Alchemists were afraid that Sydney would be a terrible influence on her younger sister. The other reason, for the sudden change was that Sydney was not allowed to have contact with her family.

Tonight, I could not take it any longer. I was going to see Sydney. I called her to make sure that everything was in place for tonight. She assured me that she as always, had taken all the necessary precautions. She had already spoken with Clarence. He had agreed to let us drive his Jaguar. We had to be extra careful when meeting up tonight.

Sydney and I met up at Clarence's house at 7 o' clock. It was already dark outside. Even though Clarence didn't have the most inconspicuous of cars, it was something that was necessary. We couldn't take my car or Sydney's car. The one good thing about Clarence's Jaguar is that the windows were tinted.

As soon as I saw Sydney, my jaw nearly dropped on the floor. She was wearing the Greek styled red dress that she had been wearing on the night of Halloween. Sydney never wore red. It put too much attention on her.

She walked toward me, her blond hair dangled just below her shoulders. I could tell that she must have had help with her makeup. Sydney was wearing pink eye shadow and had black eyeliner on. Even without the makeup, she was always drop dead gorgeous. Now, I really didn't know how I could make it through the evening in one piece.

"Hi Adrian. You look very handsome" she said. I could see her eyes going over my outfit. I had worn designer dark blue jeans with a black button up shirt and a sports coat over it.

"This way" I said, as I escorted her over to the car. Once inside, I took one more look at her beautiful face. I leaned over and felt the warmth of her lips on mine. The kiss started slowly but then progressed to more. She wrapped her hands around my neck, as I placed one hand on her shoulder. We stayed like this for several minutes, before the kiss ended.

"I hope that you're not too hungry, because the place that we're going to is not close by."

"Where are you taking me?" Sydney asked.

"It's a place that I'm fairly certain you are going to love. I just can't tell you where" I said, slyly.

Sydney frowned but didn't protest. She realized that she wasn't going to get me to give her a satisfactory answer. About an hour into the drive, I felt a strange sensation. _Oh no, not now. Any other time, than now. I couldn't let Spirit start taking over. I had to overcome it. _I looked over at Sydney and gave her my most charming smile. Unfortunately, it did not fool Sydney. She always seemed to know when there was something wrong. "Adrian are you ok? Adrian please come back to me. You have to focus or at least pull over" she said, concerned. I did as she asked. "I'm sorry Sage. I'll be ok" I assured her. I will only focus on you and that will help".

" She took my hand. We can go back, you know. It's ok. We don't have to do this".

"I'll be fine. Nothing is going to ruin this night for you. The effects have already started fading". Sydney reluctantly agreed.

Soon we were back on the road again. I drove until we had reached the outskirts of Los Angeles. There was a small town off the coast that I planned on taking Sydney to. As we drove down the road, next to the ocean, Sydney touched my arm.

"This is absolutely breathtaking. The moonlight shining on the ocean like that. It's truly amazing."

"This water is shamed by the breathtaking beauty that is sitting next to me. It doesn't even compare to you Sage."

I looked at Sydney to see her reaction. A deep red color shone on her face. I drove for a few more minutes before reaching our destination. I parked right in front of a small French restaurant. It was called "La Douceur" which meant, the sweetness.

I walked over to the other side of the car and opened the door for Sydney. "After you madam." Sydney took my hand and got out of the car, looking as graceful and beautiful as ever.

"La Douceur" she repeated, nearly breathlessly. "Adrian, you remembered" she said, looking directly into my eyes. "Did you doubt me? You sound surprised Sage? We've been together for seven months and yet you still doubt Adrian Ivashkov" I said, smiling.

"No, you're right" she said, shaking her head. "I should never have doubted you Adrian. You are constantly surprising me." She looked thoughtful for a moment, before continuing. "Also, you've turned out to be a pretty good boyfriend so far" she said, seriously.

I opened the door for Sydney and we walked into the small restaurant. It was located on a hill that was overlooking the ocean. It was in a nearly hidden location. Most local tourists did not know about this romantic setting. I made it sure, that everything had been set up perfectly. Nothing in the world could possibly change that. I wasn't going to let anyone or anything ruin this night.


	8. Chapter 8

We sat down at our table, noticing our surroundings. "Adrian there's no one here!" Sydney exclaimed. I looked around the elegant restaurant, taking the scene in. "Hmm I didn't notice that before Sage" I said, grinning. She looked at me, disbelievingly.

"Adrian" she said, sounding exasperated. "Come on, stop playing around."

"Ok Sage, relax. I'm just joking around. Yes, of course I noticed that the restaurant is empty.

Why do you think that is?" I asked.

Immediately, Sydney switched into data analysis mode. "I'm not really sure. I mean there could be a number of reasons. The most likely explanation seems to be because of the time limit. We arrived here at 9:00 pm. This restaurant closes at 10:00 pm. Also, the logistics of the location of this restaurant are terrible. This really is a hidden location. It is a Thursday night, so you would think there might other patrons here" Sydney said.

I shook my head back and forth. I stared deeply into her eyes for a few moments, just long enough to unnerve her. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I'm just thinking about how beautiful you are Sage. I think that there might actually be another explanation though."

"Really why do you think-? She stopped; finally realizing her mistake. "Oh my gosh. You did this?" she asked, incredulously.

I nodded and reached across the table to take her hand. "Yes, I did. I called the restaurant and made special arrangements. I told them that I was bringing my girlfriend here, and that we needed some privacy. I told them that it is her birthday and I paid them, very generously I might add, to make sure that the restaurant was ours."

"Oh Adrian" she said. "That is the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me." She paused and took a deep breath. She looked like she was going to tear up. "Thank you so much. I leaned forward and gave her a kiss. The evening was already perfect and it was due to get better shortly. The waiter came over and took our order. Within minutes, he had come back with a fondue pot and a lot of food.

We had a great time, as we talked and dipped chicken, steak, and cheese, into the fondue pot. We talked and laughed, and occasionally kissed. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. I couldn't stop myself from leaning over and kissing her.

The ambiance of the restaurant only made the night better. There were chandeliers that hung from the ceiling. There was a candle lit on our table, with pink carnations that sat next to it. The floor was marble tiling and the windows glistened with mosaic French art. There were paintings that lined the wall throughout the restaurant. The wait staff wore full suits and ties. We were sitting at a table directly in the middle of the restaurant.

` As we were eating, a man came over and began to play the violin. Sydney recognized it at once. It was a song that I had picked out for her, a French song that she loved. Finally, dinner was over and I paid the bill. "I hope that you enjoyed tonight Sage. It cost me a fortune" I said, teasing her.

"You didn't need to do all of this Adrian. It's not necessary. You don't have to take me to fancy, romantic, French restaurants."

I put my arms around Sydney's waist. I looked into her eyes. "I love you Sage. I care about you more than I've ever cared for anyone. You deserve every bit of this and so much more."

I pulled her close to me and kissed her. I felt the intensity course through my body and through hers. I had one hand on her upper back, the other on her waist. We stood like this and kissed under the moonlight for several minutes. It could have been an eternity. There was no where else that I wanted to be. There was no one else that I wanted to be with. I wanted to be with Sydney Sage, more than I wanted to breathe.

Finally, we stood apart. Sydney looked at me with such energy that I nearly couldn't control myself. "You know, your aura is a deep shade of purple right now Sage."

In response, she said "I love you Adrian." We kissed again, this time more slowly. Unfortunately, it did not last as long as I would have liked.

"Hey look, I have one more surprise for you" I said. You have to follow me." Sydney followed me back into the restaurant. I took her to a far corner of the restaurant, that she had not seen. At the end of the hallway, was a spiral staircase that led up to the roof.

Once we reached the roof, we were able to see the view. It was a perfect view of the ocean. The moonlight shone on top of the water, as it slowly moved back and forth. I walked with Sydney over toward the edge of the roof. She stood in front of me as I held hugged her neck. "This is all for you Sage. This is all yours. You are still much more beautiful than this ocean. I love you so much."

"I love you too" she whispered.

She didn't even notice right away, when I let go of her. "Sage please turn around" I said. Sydney turned around and saw me squatting on the floor. "

What are you doing?" she asked.

"I love you" I said. Then I took a small box out of my pocket. "Sydney Katherine Sage will you marry me?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Are you crazy?" Sydney asked, sounding completely stunned.

I looked up at her, in disbelief.

"That's not exactly the sort of answer a guy is looking for when he asks that, Sydney." She blushed. She looked very upset and concerned. Sydney looked as though, she wanted to throw up and leap for joy at the same time.

I got off the ground, and stood up to face her. She moved a little bit closer to me, and placed her hand on my chest. "Adrian, I can't. There's so many reasons why that would be a terrible idea." She looked disheartened, at having to admit this; so it softened the blow by a miniscule amount.

"Alright, Sydney, go ahead and name them" I said. I was really trying to be incredibly patient. I was trying be calm, but I could feel the anger welling up inside of me. _How dare she do this to me? How could she? After everything that we've been through. _

Sydney was surprised. She hadn't expected me to say this. She looked like she was choosing her next words carefully. "Well the most important reason, is that I don't want to be sent to re-education. Falling in love with a Moroi is difficult enough. Marrying one would be- well nearly impossible" she said, sighing. "Marrying you doesn't exactly make the best case that I can trusted. I'll be sent away. I don't want to do that. I can't do that."

I could see that Sydney was beginning to get upset now. "Is that all?" I asked, innocently.

"Is that all? Isn't that enough? That isn't even mentioning that this is- well this is wrong. It's unnatural. We could never be married, Adrian. This could never work."

That's when I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. I was going to have to be harsh with her. Sometimes, it was the only way I could get through to her.

"Are we back to that again? This is wrong. I shouldn't be with you.

I need to ask you something Sage. Where did you think this was going? What did you think was going to happen? We've been together since the end of December. Now, it's the beginning of July. Did you think I was doing this for the fun of it? Do you think I'm with you because it's easy for me? What did you think we were doing here hmm? Did you think that we were just going to date? Until what? Until when? Until you decided I wasn't good enough for you anymore? Or did you think that I would break up with you?"

"I've got news for you Sage, I'm not breaking up with you. If you want to move on, so be it. I am not doing it for you. You have to make the decision. If you want out, fine. I'll walk away. All you have to do is say the word. I'm gone as soon as you don't want me around anymore. The problem is Sage, that I don't think that's true. I think you want me around. I think you love me. Actually, I know you love me".

In fact, you've just admitted again that you're in love with me too. You know, as well as I do that if I were human, you wouldn't hesitate. You wouldn't be coming up with these reasons that we shouldn't be together. You would have said "yes" to begin with. The worst part of it is, that you don't have any valid reasons for saying "no."

"I do have a valid reason" she protested. "I don't want to go to re-education, Adrian. Don't you understand that?"

"Yes, of course I understand. The thing is Sage, you don't have to go. The Alchemists can't force you."

"Of course, they can force me!" she yelled.

"No, they can't. They can't force you, if you're not one of them" I said, pointing to the golden lily tattoo on her cheek.

Sydney was quiet for a few moments. "I know" she sighed, deeply. She sat down on the roof, and I sat next to her. "It's just that you don't understand what that would fully mean. I wouldn't be able to do any more undercover work. I may never find out the truth about the Alchemists and the Warriors of Light. I wouldn't be privy to Alchemist technology and information. I wouldn't be able to see my family. I would be on the run. I would be in hiding."

"You would be with me" I said.

"I'm with you now" Sydney protested.

I shook my head. "Sydney, we can't go on like this forever. Even if the Alchemists don't have proof of our relationship yet, they will at some point. There's going to come a time where you have to face this head on. You're going to have to decide what you stand for. You are going to have to fight for love or run away from it." I wrapped her small hand inside of mine.

"I want to fight for love. I want to fight for us. If this isn't worth fighting for, I don't know what is." I kissed her softly for a moment before letting go. "I love you Sage. I don't know how many times I have to say it".

"Besides, once people see how we are together, they'll cave eventually. They'll want what we have. They'll see that there's nothing wrong with a human and a Moroi being together. Then if all else fails, we'll go live with the Keepers" I said, jokingly.

Sydney smiled and laughed at what I had said. Then she got serious again. She sat there in silence for several minutes. "Sage you okay?" I asked, at last.

"Huh? Oh yes, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"I was just thinking, where in the world am I going to get a wedding dress?"


	10. Chapter 10

It took my brain several seconds to process the words that Sydney had just said to me. Then I promptly grabbed her, picked her up in the air, and swung her around in a circle. After I put her back down, I began to kiss her. I felt the energy coursing through both of our bodies.

I felt her warm lips against mine. It was a feeling of perfect bliss. The intensity seemed to gain strength the longer that we stood like this. We were enthralled by the mere presence of each other. Slowly, I left her lips and trailed kisses all the way down her cheek and her neck.

By the time, that I got to her shoulders, I knew I had to regain some self control. I happened to take notice of our surroundings. We were on top of the roof of a restaurant. Sydney stared at me blankly. "What's going on?" she asked, innocently.

"Well, I looked around and I just noticed we're on a rooftop. It's not exactly the most romantic setting in the world. I mean don't get me wrong, the view is utterly gorgeous. I was just hoping to take you someplace more romantic and quite frankly, comfortable."

Sydney looked slightly disappointed but she understood. "Yeah, I guess we could find someplace a little bit more romantic. Maybe we could even find someplace with a bed" she suggested.

"Wow you little devil, Sydney. I never thought I'd hear you say that" I said, utterly amused.

"That's not what I meant Adrian. I just meant that it's getting late and we don't have a place to spend the night" she insisted.

"Ok Sydney if that's what you want to think" I teased. I smiled at her and saw her blush deeply. She was clearly embarrassed. I was fairly certain that I was a bit closer to the truth that she would let on.

I took her hand and we walked down the stairs, back into the restaurant. The restaurant staff that was still there, said goodbye to us. We walked out to the car and got in quickly.

"How are we going to find a hotel room at this time of night?" she asked.

"I'm sure it won't be too much of a problem. Besides, if the staff give us a hard time, I can help them to give us a room."

Sydney looked appalled at this suggestion. I knew how much she disapproved whenever I used compulsion.

"Would you rather be stranded out here? Or worse do you want to have to sleep at Clarence's house?" I already knew the answer to both of these questions. Sydney would never want to be stranded out in a small coastal town, forced to sleep in a car. Sydney also would not want to sleep at Clarence's house because of Dorothy.

Clarence sometimes took the whole vampire thing kind of literally. He was up all night and sometimes he wanted a "midnight snack." I had learned this the hard way, in the short period of time that I had lived there.

On occasion I would go out into the kitchen for some food or a late night drink. A couple of times I saw Clarence having a late night feeding. I knew that Sydney would want to avoid that at all costs.

However, once again something that I had said, brought up another topic of conversation. "Adrian when was the last time that you fed?" Sydney asked. I knew that this was a very uncomfortable topic for her, so I kept it simple.

"I went over to Clarence's house a little bit early" I answered her, truthfully.

"I'm going to have to look up hotels on my phone. I'll look for ones that are close by" Sydney said, in a matter of fact tone.

I waved my hand to indicate that her action was not necessary.

"It's alright Sage, I've got it covered.

"You do?" she asked, sounding very uncertain.

"Yes, absolutely" I answered.

Sydney sat back in her seat, looking relieved. That is, she was relieved until she found out where we were going. "Where are we going? What hotel are we staying at?"

I hesitated briefly, before answering.

"I'm making sure that you stay in the lap of luxury Sage. We're going to the Bellagio, in Las Vegas".


	11. Chapter 11

For a few seconds, there was a deadly silence inside of the car. "We're going to Las Vegas" Sydney repeated, sounding confused. "Are you crazy?"

"Wow Sage, that's the second time in the last hour that you've called me crazy. If I didn't you better, I'd be really offended by now" I said, jokingly.

"Sorry" she muttered. "It's just that it's 11:00 pm. It takes four hours to get to Vegas. We won't get there until 3 am. Couldn't you have picked some romantic, expensive hotel in Los Angeles?" she asked, sounding exasperated.

"You really think it's going to take four hours?" I asked. "That seems like a long time."

Sydney shook her head in disbelief. "Of course, it takes four hours. Do you have any idea how many miles it is from here to Las Vegas?"

"Yeah, I think so. I might have read it somewhere or another."

I pulled off of an exit, just a few miles onto the expressway.

"What are you doing?" Sydney asked, immediately.

"I'm just taking a shortcut" I answered, simply.

"A shortcut! You just exited the expressway. How do you expect to get to Las Vegas this way?"

"Really Sage, you need to learn to trust me. You did just agree to become Mrs. Ivashkov did you not?"

Sydney blushed for about the one thousandth time that night. "Yes that's true" she said, smiling. "I'm not sure that means that I have to trust your directional judgment though."

We drove on for a few more miles in silence. We drove down a dark, back road, with barely any street lights on it. This is a situation in which my vampire vision came in handy.

I could sense Sydney getting nervous. Finally, I turned right and drove a little ways, down a dirt path. "Where are we Adrian?" Sydney asked. I pointed to a sign that was located on the left side of the street. It read _AIRPORT _one half mile to the right.

"We're going to the airport? Why didn't we go to LAX? Why are we all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere?"

"I thought that you would like a bit of luxury and privacy honey pie" I answered.

I could tell that Sydney was thinking about the last time that I called her by that nickname. It had been when we were pretending to be a couple in order to extract information from someone very dangerous.

Soon enough, I parked the car inside of the small airport. I opened the door to let Sydney out. Then without warning, I picked her up in my arms.

"What are you doing? I can walk Adrian."

"I know that you _can _walk Sage. I just don't want you to have to. I mean look, this is a _dirt _road. You have on a dress and high heels. I wouldn't dream of you ruining them with a bit of walking. Besides, now I have an even better excuse to hold you" I said, smirking.

"Alright, fine" she said, sounding somewhat defeated. Sydney didn't like to give up her control in any situation.

I walked inside to the hangar. I placed Sydney on the ground, much to her satisfaction. Then I walked over and waved at the man who had been waiting for us. He was a short, plump man with a gray-white hair, beard and mustache.

"Hello and welcome. My name is Michael Stevenson and I will be your pilot for this evening." Sydney and I both introduced ourselves. It didn't take him long to notice the ring.

"I see a congratulations are in order. Are you two going on your honeymoon?" he asked.

"We aren't on our honeymoon quite yet. I might be calling you again next week" I said, smiling. Sydney merely stared at me. She seemed appalled both by the way I answered his question and by my choice in pilot.

He stared at the beautiful golden ring for a few moments. I had to admit, it was pretty gorgeous. It had taken me a few months to save enough money to buy it. If anything, it was a wonderful defiance of anything that my father would have wanted.

It was gold, with a large oval shaped diamond in the center. It was surrounded by several smaller diamonds on both sides. Then on the inside, there was an engraving.

It read: _For my eternal love, Sydney. _

I was actually pretty sure that Sydney hadn't seen the engraving yet. It had been very dark on the roof of the restaurant. After a quick tour of the airport and plane, we were allowed to board.

Once we were settled in, I immediately turned to Sydney. "I think that there's something on the ring that you haven't seen yet" I said.

"What?" she asked, innocently. I gently slipped the ring off of her finger and held it, for her to see. Then I pointed at the inside. She read the engraving in silence. Then unexpectedly, she wrapped both of her arms around my neck.

"Thank you Adrian. It's lovely. It's wonderful and beautiful" she said, quietly.

"You're welcome Sydney. You deserve it and so much more."

She leaned over and we kissed, just as the plane started out down the runway.


	12. Chapter 12

Once we had arrived at the hotel, it wasn't very long before Sydney fell asleep. She was so tired that she fell asleep, still in her dress, with the lights on. I tucked her in and kissed her gently on the forehead.

The next morning, I awoke, as the sunlight streamed into our room.

Fortunately, I had to no plans to get up anytime soon. I laid in bed for another hour, before I felt a hand gripped my shoulder.

"Morning Adrian" Sydney said, happily. I rolled over and found that my face was inches away from hers.

"Good morning Sage" I said, cheerfully. Then, before she could stop me, I grabbed her, threw her on her back, and began kissing her. We kissed for several minutes. I kissed her face and her head. Then I kissed her all the way down her neck and back again.

She seemed very disappointed when I stopped. "Since when do you have such self control?" she asked.

"I'd say, since the moment I asked you to marry me. I plan to make an honest girl of you yet, Sydney Sage. We have a big day today. There's lots of fun to be had and money to be spent."

She sat up, at these words. "I definitely need to buy something different to wear. I can't walk around wearing this dress all day."

"As far as I'm concerned, you could walk around, wearing that dress all the time. However, since I know that you don't like wearing it, I could cut you some slack. I'll take you to buy whatever you want. There's just one rule. You must buy a wedding dress today" I said.

I watched as Sydney's eyes, bulged to an unnaturally large size. "What? Today? Why today? It takes time to plan a wedding. I can get a dress on a different day."

"You can get a dress on a different day? Sydney do you know what day it is? It's July 4th. There's only four weeks until they want to try you for some _heinous_ crime. The only logical thing to do is to run away, so that you never have to go. We could live wherever you want. I'll take you to anyplace in the world. Although, I get the feeling that you don't want to do that.

I could tell that my words had struck a chord. Sydney was thinking about the best thing to say, in order to counter what I had told her. "You were right before. I don't want to run away. I need to face this head on. That's part of the argument that you used against me on the rooftop. If there's even a miniscule chance that anything could ever change, we have to fight for what we believe in".

"I figured that you might say something like that. That, is the reason why we need to do this now. I want to make sure that you belong to me, before anyone tries to take you away" I said, seriously.

Sydney became quiet again, taking in my words. "Are you saying what I think you are?" she asked. I nodded my head in response.

"Yes, Sydney, let's get married today."

I was shocked, when I encountered only a few protests. "Ok" she said, after several minutes. "Let's do this, tonight."

The rest of the day was like a whirlwind. It was like I was living inside of a dream. The majority of my body could not believe that this was real. Sydney and I investigated Las Vegas, and all the wonderful perks that it had to offer.

We dined at the best restaurants. Sydney even bought her wedding dress. She wouldn't let me see it though. Despite all of the unconventional things about our relationship, Sydney wanted this tradition to be intact.

In wasn't until after night had fallen, that the truth spilled out. We were sitting on a bench outside of the Bellagio. The setting was perfectly romantic. There was a fountain, streaming with crystal clear water. There crowds of people that roamed the streets. Everyone was getting ready for the big Fourth of July celebration. There were families, walking and talking. There were children smiling and laughing, as they looked up at the sky, anxious for the fireworks to start.

Then there was Sydney. She was sitting next to me, staring down at the ground. "What's wrong Sage?"

Sydney shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that I had always envisioned my wedding day differently. I thought that it was going to be a day, that was perfect. I thought that my family would all be here. I thought that I would be having a real wedding and a reception.

I would have loved to have a wedding like Sonya had. Everything was perfect for her. Everything was beautiful."

"That's a great way to make a guy feel special" I said, jokingly.

She smiled a little and turned her head to look at me. "Listen Sage, I want all of that for you too. I do. I wish I could give you all of those things right now." I took a deep breath.

"I would understand, if you want to call it off. We don't have to do anything tonight. We can wait for a better time."

She shook her head and placed her hand on top of mine. "No, Adrian. I don't want to do that. I want to be with you. I love you. I don't want to wait. I'm sorry. I just wish that my Mom and Zoe could be here."

I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I promise, no matter what happens, someday you will get what you deserve. I'll give you anything that you want. The first thing that we have to do, is try and get people to change their minds about certain topics".

We kissed briefly. Then we got up and went back to the room. We gathered our belongings and got in the car, that I had reserved. That night was a night that I would never forget. That night, we didn't even notice the fireworks or the people yelling gleefully outside. The rest of the night, we only noticed each other.


	13. Chapter 13

I had never been so nervous in all of my life. We walked into the wedding chapel, hand in hand. I went to give the man at the desk all of our information. Once that had occurred, and I had paid him the correct amount, Sydney went to get changed.

When she came out, I realized that I had never seen someone look so insanely beautiful.

Her dress was floor length, with a train that was about eight feet long. The dress was tight against her body, and flowed out in a perfect way. There were silver flowers that adorned the front and back of the dress. I couldn't wait to see the look on her face, when she saw the surprise that I had in store for her.

It took her a minute, before she noticed them. They were sitting in the front row. I saw Sydney's face light up with happiness and utter shock. There, in the front row was Jill, Eddie, and Angeline. I had flown them out here the this morning on a jet; after Sydney had agreed to get married today. I knew that I had been taking a huge chance. I knew that there was a possibility that Sydney might have changed her mind. I knew that it was not the same as having her mother and sister there. Still, I think that this was probably the second best thing.

Jill and Angeline both squealed when they saw Sydney. Eddie looked at her, as though his own her sister were about to get married. Finally, it was time for the ceremony to start. Jill and Angeline stood behind Sydney, as bridesmaids. Eddie somewhat reluctantly, walked over toward where I was standing.

I rubbed my hands together, unhappy to find a wet substance all over them. _Perfect, now I'm sweating, _I thought to myself. The ceremony began and we went through all of the traditional motions. Eddie handed us the rings. We exchanged our rings, when the minister instructed.

Soon afterward, the best part came. It was the part where the minister said those magic words. "You may kiss the bride." Sydney and I kissed. There was something about this kiss that seemed different than any other. I guess it was because, now everything was official. Sydney Sage had just officially become Sydney Ivashkov. It felt good to know this, even if I hadn't said it aloud yet.

Afterwards, we talked with Jill, Angeline and Eddie for a bit. It was really nice for Sydney to be able to be with them for a while. I liked them too, but I knew how much it meant to Sydney.

It seemed like forever, that we stood there talking. Just before we were about to leave, Jill took Sydney over to the side. She stood far enough back that I couldn't hear what they were talking about.

After a couple of minutes, they broke apart. Sydney gave everyone a hug before we left. I waved good naturedly and said a quick goodbye. Then, finally, we were off to the hotel.

As soon as we reached the room, we started kissing. I threw Sydney on top of the bed. I really didn't want to ruin her beautiful dress. Against all my better instincts, I let Sydney change first.

Then, when she came out, we started kissing again. I kissed her ravenously, all over. We were both caught up in being with one another. I started kissing her at her head and worked down her body. Everything was complete bliss.

The morning came way too quickly. I groaned as the sunlight poured in around us. I knew that everything the previous night had been amazing. It had been the most perfect night I had ever had. Sydney was everything that I could ask for. She was the most beautiful woman, inside and out.

I saw Sydney stir a little bit and she turned slightly. "Good morning Mrs. Ivashkov" I said. She turned to look at me. "Good morning Mr. Ivashkov" she said, with a smirk.

I smiled and kissed her gently on the forehead. "You're the most amazing woman in the whole world."

"You're not too bad either" Sydney teased. I wanted to stay like this forever. There was nothing that could have gotten me out of bed that morning. I held Sydney tightly in my arms, and considered never letting her leave.

The next few weeks were great. I rented a place on the outskirts of Los Angeles. There was no point in returning to Palm Springs. It would only give the Alchemists more evidence to work with. The date of Sydney's trial loomed ever closer. It was midday on July 24th that Sydney got a phone call. Sydney jumped to attention, answering it immediately. I could tell by her voice, that Stanton was on the other line.

"Yes, ma'am. I understand, ma'am. Thank you so much for that ma'am. I really hope that everything turns out alright. Yes, ma'am I will be there."

The she hung up. "What was that about?" I asked.

"That was really strange. She said, that my trial is going to have to be postponed for one more week. The trial is now set for August 7th. She said that Ian has gone missing."

I raised an eyebrow, at the mention of Ian Jansen. I knew that he was an Alchemist, who had a huge crush on Sydney. I couldn't blame him, truthfully. I still hated him, though. She had once pretended to have a crush on him, in order to gain access to top secret files. I made my disdain for him very clear.

"So Ian's missing. So what?" I asked, totally unconcerned.

"Well, he must have been part of the trial. I think he is probably testifying against me. I guess that Stanton needs a little bit more time to find someone else, willing to testify against me. It's really strange that's he missing though. He doesn't seem like the type to run away."

"Maybe he came to his senses. He realized that he never had a chance with you, so he left" I suggested.

Sydney looked at me, in a way that said that I shouldn't joke about things like that. "Alright what do you think happened?" I asked, more seriously.

Sydney shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know what happened. I guess he could have been kidnapped or something I just don't know why" she lamented.

Sydney always hated it when she couldn't come up with a rational solution within a few minutes. "Stanton said something else strange. She said that she wants you, Eddie, Jill, and Angeline to come to the trial. She says that you all can be character witnesses for me."


	14. Chapter 14

The appointed court date finally arrived, without any further interruptions. We all had to wear special ID in order to be let into Alchemist facilities. We had taken a plane to where the main Alchemist headquarters were located.

Once we got off the plane, we had been blindfolded and put inside of a car. I felt as though, we were being taken to the CIA or something. The Alchemists did not want any Moroi or Dhampirs to be able to locate their headquarters. I complied, even though I thought that it was a stupid idea. No Moroi or Dhampir in their right mind, would want to go into Alchemist headquarters.

We were quickly ushered inside. Once inside, we were allowed to take our blindfolds off. We were escorted down the hallway, by several large security men. The court room was located at the end of the hallway on the left. We went inside and found our seats in the galley.

Sydney was taken in through a different door. The room looked like an exact replica of a court room, on some daytime court show. I had only ever been to the royal court, which looked much different than this.

Within minutes, the entire room was filled with people. I noticed that Stanton was sitting in the front row, opposite from where we were sitting. The trial began on time. Most everything, was always run like clockwork with the Alchemists around.

The judge spoke to everyone. Sydney was sitting at a table facing the judge. The one difference between this, and regular court, was that there were no lawyers. Everyone who had been accused of wrong doing, had to sit there, quietly as evidence was brought up against them.

In the event, that the evidence was not trustworthy, the judge would allow the defendant to leave. No punishment would be given. Sydney had explained everything to us on the way over here. This was about sending someone to re-education. If there was any compelling evidence, then the person would be sent to re-education, no questions asked.

First, they called us all up for questioning. We were supposed to be character witnesses. I was fairly skeptical that no one in the jury would believe us. However, there did seem to be some people who were listening to what we said.

The next thing that occurred, was the evidence was brought out. There were several pictures of Sydney and I together. There were even a couple of really incriminating pictures, of us kissing. I couldn't understand how this had happened. How had these pictures been taken? Eddie, Jill, and Angeline, stared at me, in disbelief.

The look on their faces said it all. _How did this happen? How could you allow this to happen?_ I looked helplessly back at them. I didn't have any idea how that had happened. We had always been so careful, not to get caught.

I could tell that Sydney was thinking the same thing. I knew that she was processing all of the evidence that was being placed before her. A couple of times, I caught her glancing at her family.

Sydney's mother, father, and sister were all sitting in the galley. Sydney's father, occasionally looked my way, giving me stares of pure hatred. Zoe and Sydney's mom, looked sad. They didn't want to see this happen. I was glad, that they had let Sydney see them for a few minutes before the trial had started.

The jury took the evidence and went to deliberate in another room. All too soon, they were back. This meant, that they had no problem reaching a verdict. I already knew what the verdict would be.

All thoughts of the photographs had been pushed to the back of my mind, until I saw him from a distance. Then everything came together at once. _There was only one person who could have surveiled us like that. There was only one person who could have taken those pictures. Only one person was good enough at hiding in plain sight, so that we would never know. That person was tall, had blond hair, and a smirk the size of Wyoming on his face. That person, was Marcus Finch. _

He stepped out from behind the judge's box. Sydney and I locked eyes on him at the same time. "You" she said, "You were the one who supplied the evidence. You took the pictures" she said, with disgust.

"Yeah doll, I took the pictures."

"How could you work with the Alchemists? You hate them."

Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "You know what they say doll, if you can't beat them, join them."

Marcus took a seat in a chair next to the jury box. The judge looked at the paper in front of him. He then began to read the verdict. "Sydney Katherine Sage, you are hereby sentenced to re-education for the period of one year. Discussion of your release will occur at such time."

All at once there was an outburst in the courtroom. Eddie, Angeline, Jill, and I all stood up. We were accompanied by Zoe and Sydney's mother. The security guards were not sure who to surround first. "Sydney!" I yelled, as I tried to push through people to get to her. "Adrian!" I heard her call.

The judge grabbed his gavel and hit it hard on the desk. "Order now!" he yelled.

Instantly, everyone stopped moving. "May I say one thing your honor?" Sydney asked.

"Go ahead, young lady."

"I can't go to re-education sir."

He seemed amused. "Oh and why is that?"

Sydney gulped and took a deep breath. "Because sir, I don't think it would be a very good place to have a baby" she said.

Silence filled that room, that was more deafening than a rock concert. The only problem was, nobody had much of a chance to react. We all turned as we heard a loud bang. The doors to the court room had been kicked in. We looked on in horror, as four Strigoi entered the court room.


	15. Chapter 15

Even in the chaos, my mind only had one focus point: _Sydney. _"Sydney! Sydney!" I screamed, as I jumped over the barrier that separated the galley from the rest of court room. People were screaming and running all around us. I just barely caught a glimpse of Eddie and Angeline running off to the center of the action.

The reality and dire need of this situation hit me, like a punch in the face. The odds of everyone getting out of here alive were slim and none. We were in a room filled with thirty to forty Alchemists, two Moroi, two Dhampirs, and one traitor.

Eddie and Angeline were the only ones in this room, who were capable of fighting the Strigoi. Most of the rest were humans or Moroi; which was just Jill and I. Now, Eddie had taught Jill how to fight at some point, but she did not possess the strength or skill of a Dhampir.

I think it was the only time, that I had ever wanted to see Dimitri walk through those doors. In any other circumstances, I would have preferred that he be at the opposite end of the world. Unfortunately, it seemed pretty unlikely that he and Rose would show up about now.

"Adrian" I heard Sydney call from somewhere behind me. I ran to her and held her against me. I could see two of the Strigoi guarding the doors. Those doors, were the only means of escape that any of us possessed. We were surrounded on all sides.

Eddie and Angeline were each taking on the remaining Strigoi.

All of the Alchemists, except for Marcus Finch, were huddled up in a corner. I didn't know where that rat had scampered to. He must have been hiding in another corner of the room. I couldn't be bothered to search for him.

Sydney and I still stood in the center of the court room. I quickly scanned the room for Jill. I saw her squatting next to Zoe.

The one that was obviously the leader, walked toward us. He had been one of the Strigoi, who had been blocking the door. I could see his fierce, red eyes, glinting in the light. It wasn't until he had walked a little bit closer to us, that I realized something startling.

I knew this Strigoi. I mean, we had never been friends, but I would have known his face anywhere. It was truly unmistakable. I had only met him one time, but one time was all that I had needed.

"I guess the mystery has been solved" I whispered to Sydney. Sydney's vision wasn't as good as mine, but he was now within ten feet of where we stood. I heard Sydney catch her breath. _"_Oh my gosh" she said, in a barely audible whisper. The Strigoi standing in front of us was Ian Jansen.

"Hello Sydney" he said, in a sickly, raspy voice. "It's so nice to see you again" he hissed. Immediately, I took a step forward, shielding Sydney from him. "Hello Moroi" he said, with disgust. "You're that incorrigible party boy. Your own father can't stand the sight of you. You're unrefined and ungrateful. It is beyond me, how someone like you has managed to draw in someone like Sydney. I'll never understand it."

Then he turned toward Sydney. He was within three feet of where we were standing now. I was still trying to shield Sydney from him. "Sydney I don't know how you could be so blind. I don't understand how you could ever fall for this idiot. I knew that it was true" he hissed.

"I could tell at the wedding, that you were interested in him. It was in your eyes, the whole time. I tried to ignore it. I tried to tell myself that what I had seen was nothing. I denied that you could possibly have _feelings _for such a creature. We could have been together. I loved you. _I_ was _perfect_ for you. _We_ could have been together. _We _could have been happy" he said, angrily.

Ian took a few steps closer. Sydney and I stepped back, just a little. I knew that there were no current means of escape. Everyone else was still huddled in a corner, to scared to move. Eddie and Angeline were still fighting the other two Strigoi. Then the one that was still standing near the door began walking toward us as well.

Suddenly, I heard Sydney gasp. I felt her shaking behind me. "I-I know him too" she stammered. I stared at the Strigoi that stood before us. I racked my brain, to try and figure out who he could be.

Sydney did not have much time to explain. "Liam" she whispered. The name sounded familiar. It still took me a few moments to remember where I had heard it before. I scarcely remembered Sydney telling me a story once.

It was shortly after Keith had been sent to re-education. She had told me about this underground bunker, she had been taken to in order to make a statement about Keith Darnell. They had asked Sydney her opinion, in order to decide how much longer Keith should stay in re-education.

A fellow Alchemist, had broken the rules, and taken Sydney to a top secret room, where they had kept Liam hidden. Sydney had explained that Liam was a corrupt human, who wanted nothing more than to become Strigoi.

This story had stuck with me, because I knew how terrible that was. It was a story that had made my skin crawl. I couldn't imagine ever wanting to become Strigoi. In order to do that, there was already no hope for your soul.

I squeezed Sydney's hands tightly, as the two Strigoi surrounded us. I had to do something. I just didn't know what I could do. I had a mere few seconds, before they would strike. That was when, I remembered what I had in pocket. I slowly and discreetly put my hand into my right pocket.

Ian reached for me, at the same time that I took my lighter out of my pocket. I felt Ian grab me, sinking his sharp teeth into my neck. The last thing that I heard, was a earsplitting scream, right before I lost consciousness.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Utter chaos. There were no other words that could accurately describe the scene that was currently enfolding before me. I began coughing and I had to squint my eyes, in order to see. Black smoke was quickly filling up the room. I found strength to push myself up from the floor. "Sydney!" I screamed.

I scanned the room for movement and listened intently to all of the sounds around me. It was nearly impossible to decipher one person's scream from the next. I could see a bright, orange light, burning merely fifteen feet from where I was standing. "Sydney" I said, nearly choking on the smoke around me. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to keep the smoke entering my lungs. I pushed my way through some people, who were running toward the doors. I looked around for Ian and the other Strigoi, but I couldn't locate them.

The flames were growing larger and time was quickly running out. I was running toward the fire, as most were running away. I kept running, determined to find Sydney. She had to be here, somewhere. She wouldn't have left the room without me. I was certain of that.

Every second that I lingered, the smoke became thicker. I was coughing so much, that I couldn't even speak. I was still a bit dizzy from the blood loss and feeling dazed because of the smoke.

I searched for as long as could. I didn't see Sydney anywhere. Even with, my superior senses, I couldn't find her. I didn't want to leave her. I couldn't. I wouldn't do it. Suddenly, I felt something touch my shoulder. I spun around, expecting to see a Strigoi standing there. I was ready. I was going to punch him in the face, not that it would have done me much good.

These hands did perform manual labor, when the situation called for it. "Easy there, Adrian, it's me" Eddie said. It took me a few seconds to respond.

"What are you doing?" I asked, as though we had time for a long conversation.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he grabbed my arm and started forcibly dragging me away.

"No, I can't. I have to find Sydney." I tried to kick him, but he easily dodged me.

"Sydney's safe" he said.

Immediately, I stopped struggling. My survival instincts kicked in. I began running toward the door with Eddie, when I heard it. I heard a scream. We were nearly to the door, when I stopped running.

"What are you doing?!" Eddie screamed. "The court room is going to burn to ground at any time."

"There's someone still in there" I said. "I heard someone scream."

"We can't go back in there" Eddie protested. "The whole building is going to collapse."

I shook my head. I wasn't really the heroic type, but something was bothering me about that scream. It sounded eerily familiar. It sounded exactly like Sydney. My mind told me that this was impossible. Eddie had confirmed that Sydney was safe. Yet, something told me that I had to go back.

Without another thought, I took off into the fire. The smoke, once again, engulfed me. I ran toward the place that I heard the scream. As I got closer, I heard it again.

"Help! Help! Somebody please help me!"

I ran as fast as I could. Finally, I reached the place that the sound was coming from. I saw a girl, lying in the corner, trapped underneath a very large piece of wood.

Without speaking, I tried to remove the piece of wood. I looked down at young girl, who was crying and coughing. She must have been in terrible pain. She must have been so scared. It was then, that I caught a glimpse of her face. A golden lily tattoo covered her left cheek. The girl that I was attempting to rescue, was Zoe Sage.

She was trapped underneath pieces of a large desk. I tried with all of my strength to push it off of her. I made a little bit of progress, but she was still trapped.

The fire was closing in. Every second that I stayed there, was another second that could prove to be fatal for both of us. Zoe looked up at me, with tears in her eyes.

"Go" she whispered.

I stared at her, for a split second longer. I shook my head. I continued trying to move the heavy wooden object off of her. "Sydney needs you" she said. This really hit me.

Sydney was safe. Sydney was waiting for me. My unborn child needed me. Then I looked at Zoe again, and all I saw was Sydney.

What kind of man would I be if I left her sister here to die? Even at the thought of losing everything, my conscience made my body remain where it was.

The heat was unbearable. Just as I had resigned myself to certain death, I heard footsteps approaching. I turned around and saw the face of a man who hated me, staring back at me.

Jared Sage had found his daughter. He did not hesitate. Together, we pushed, and the wood finally slid off of Zoe. He leaned over to pick up Zoe and together we started running toward the exit.

I could barely see in front of my face. I felt a hand grab onto my shoulder. "Take her" he coughed. Without thinking, I grabbed Zoe and began carrying her. Several pieces of wood were falling from the ceiling.

I tried my best to navigate through all the smoke. After what seemed like an eternity, we were nearly at the our exit. Suddenly, I heard a loud sound. A very large part of the ceiling had just fallen in around us. I turned around, just in time to see Jared Sage buried beneath the rubble. "Daddy!" Zoe, screamed.

We had just reached the doors, as another huge piece of the ceiling fell down. I sank to the ground, shaking. I placed Zoe on the floor next to me. She grabbed onto my neck and started sobbing. I held her like this for several minutes, before the others approached us. I closed my eyes and felt water sting my already burning cheeks. The reality of what had just happened, hit me. Jared Sage was now dead.


	17. Chapter 17

The aftermath was unlike anything that I had ever seen. I felt as though, I had just stepped into a war zone. I suppose, in many ways, this may have been true. A war was beginning between us and the Strigoi. An attack had just been carried out against the Alchemists. This was something brand new, as far as I was aware. I had never heard of Strigoi attacking an Alchemist facility before.

I gathered my courage, and got up from the floor. I saw Zoe huddled in a corner, next to Eddie and Jill. I walked over to them. "Zoe are you ok? I think that you probably need some medical attention."

Zoe was still shaking uncontrollably. She looked down at her feet, refusing to meet my eyes "I'm fine. I want Sydney" she said, stubbornly. _You're not the only one_, I thought to myself. I turned toward Eddie. "Where's Sydney?" I demanded.

Eddie pointed down the hallway. "She's in that room over there on the left. She's trying to help Angeline with her arm. It's not pretty" he said, in warning. Immediately, he switched to a different topic.

"The building is going to be evacuated soon. The falling debris has helped to contain the fire, but it is still burning. Some of the Alchemists went to find hoses. They said that they have always been prepared for any disaster. Jill wants to help them with the water when they get back. I'm going to have to make sure that she stays safe. You go look for Sydney" he instructed.

He didn't have to tell me twice. I ran down the hallway as fast as I could. Slowly, I opened the last door on the left. "Sydney" I called. "Sydney are you in here?" I was met with silence.

The room that I had walked into must have been a library. The walls were surrounded by bookshelves. There were, what looked like, books on every topic imaginable. _Leave it to Sydney to try and fix someone's arm inside of a library._ I walked along until I heard a noise. It was faint, but I could still hear it slightly. It sounded like droplets of water, falling on top of tile.

I followed the sound all the way to the back of the library. I found a set of restrooms there. That was when it hit me. It was the smell of blood. In this moment, I had no qualms about running into the women's restroom. I pushed the door open as quickly as I could. "Sydney!" I screamed.

The next image that I saw will forever be ingrained in my mind. The bathroom was a bloody mess. There was blood and bits of broken glass all over the place. I had to be careful not to step on the glass. There were three people who were already inside of the bathroom. Immediately, I saw Sydney, leaning up against the wall. Angeline was sitting next to her.

I ran to Sydney as fast as I could. I hugged her, scooping her up into my arms. Sydney was covered in blood. I began to panic. "Sydney are you okay? Let me help you."

Sydney shook her head and took in a deep breath. "It's not from me, Adrian. I'm fi-fine-. The blood is from hi- him" she managed to say. I turned around to look where she was pointing. I had noticed the third person. I knew that this person was dead. However, I hadn't stopped to really look at the situation.

There, lying on the floor, was a dead Strigoi. A _dead_ Strigoi doesn't even really begin to describe it though. This particular Strigoi had been decapitated. This particular Strigoi, was Ian Jansen. I turned toward Sydney and held her close. I tried to keep her facing the opposite way, so that she didn't have to look at the gruesome sight on the floor.

"Help Angeline" she cried out suddenly. It wasn't until she had said this that I looked at Angeline. Eddie had been right. The wound on her right arm was pretty bad. It looked like Sydney had been able to stop the bleeding with a piece of her shirt. I moved toward Angeline.

"Here, let me heal it" I said.

Angeline looked up at me, with her deep blue eyes. She looked more vulnerable and child like than I had ever seen her. Normally, Angeline had a façade of strength and confidence that dominated her personality. In the moment, it seemed that all she wanted a little bit of help.

"Yes, please" she said.

She held out her right arm for me to begin working on. I held her arm and began to concentrate. I felt the rush of Spirit as it began to work. Soon enough, it was over. I pulled off the bandage and took a look at the work that I had just done.

It was perfect. The skin had come back together and the blood had dried up. It looked as though, a wound had not been there at all. Then I turned my attention back to Sydney.

She was still sitting on the ground, with her eyes closed. I kneeled down next to her and put my hand on her face. "It's alright Sydney. I'm going to get you out of here" I said.

She nodded, without saying a word. I picked her up, despite the fact, that I was mentally and physically exhausted. Angeline followed quickly and quietly. Once we were inside of the library, Sydney mumbled something. "I-I kil—killed- I killed hi—him" she cried. I felt her warm, wet tears slide down my back. "Shh Sydney. It's ok. He tried to kill you guys. I'm just so happy that you're safe. It'll be ok, Sydney

I put her down on the ground. "Look at me" I instructed her.

Reluctantly, Sydney obeyed. I saw her deep brown eyes that had been stained by her tears running down her cheeks. She looked at me, staring back into my eyes. I could tell that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The worst part was that I was fairly certain that Sydney did not know about her father yet.

I placed my hand gently on her arm. "Sydney I'm going to take care of it. I'll take care of everything. I love you. I need you to trust me. I need you to trust yourself. You didn't have a choice. _He_ didn't give you a choice."

"It was_ Ian_" she cried. "I killed Ian. He was- he was- not really my friend. He wasn't a terrible person. He- he shouldn't have—I shouldn't have" she stammered.

Once again, I wrapped my arms around Sydney. I pulled her into my chest, so that her head was just below my shoulder. She was still shaking. "Sydney, it's ok. I won't let anything else happen to you."

Even as I said it, I knew it was a lie. I would never be able to keep that promise. I probably couldn't even keep it for the next five minutes. I was dreading having to tell Sydney about her father. I didn't even know how I could do that.

"I used- I used magic" she said, suddenly. "I used magic to break the mirror. The shards went everywhere. I knew that—I knew that it would have to be powerful to kill him. I- I couldn't watch. Angeline threw me into the corner to protect me. She had already been injured in the fight. I-I didn't want to cause another fire. I- I didn't have a silver stake. I didn't have a choice" she sobbed.

"I know. It's ok Sydney. I know that you didn't have a choice. I realize that. Nobody is going to blame you."

I hugged her again. Then I kissed her on the cheek. I never once, stopped to think that Angeline was still standing there.

We all looked at the door at the same time. A tall, slim figure was running toward us. It was Jill. "Come quick, Adrian! We need your help".

I turned toward Sydney. She looked just as confused, as I did. Then the next words out of her clarified everything.

"It's Zoe" she said. "She's hurt."


	18. Chapter 18

We rushed out into the hallway. Zoe was lying on the floor. She was very pale. It was obvious that she had lost blood. "We asked her over and over again to let us examine her" Eddie said. "She refused everyone. We even told her that the Alchemists would take a look at her. We told her that she could be looked at in a private room. She wouldn't let anyone touch her. We didn't know what was happening until Jill looked at her shirt and saw the blood seeping out".

Sydney and I reached Zoe' side simultaneously. Sydney stared at her sister with a great amount of concern in her eyes. She took Zoe's right hand and squeezed it tightly. "It's ok Zoe. We're here now. You're going to be ok."

"Thanks Sydney."

I began to assess the damage. Zoe had a large abdominal wound that blood surrounded. I placed my hand on her stomach and began to call on the power of Spirit. This was going to take more of my energy and concentration than the wound on Angeline's arm had.

This was much worse. Zoe's wound was two to three inches in length and possibly half an inch deep. I had to try to keep myself from being sick. I was most definitely no doctor.

I had the ability to heal, but these wounds were beginning to make me feel a little bit queasy. I had seen a lot of stuff already today, that had been much more than I had ever hoped to see.

This was a much slower process. It took several minutes before the wound had closed fully. "Thank you" Zoe said, gratefully.

"You're welcome" I said.

I walked forward a few steps and felt my body sway, ever so slightly. I needed to sit down. I was beginning to feel dizzy. The effects of healing two people from Spirit were beginning to take a toll on me. Then there was also the fact that a Strigoi had just drank from me, a little bit over an hour ago. It was hard to believe that the entire trial had only begun just two hours ago. It seemed like an eternity since we had arrived here.

So much had changed in such an incredibly short period of time. Sydney turned around and hugged. "Thank you so much Adrian. I love you."

"I love you too Sage" I said, my voice beginning to break. Sydney looked up at me.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Sydney I need to talk to you. You are probably going to want to sit down for this" I said. Sydney's eyes widened in horror. I led her a little ways down the hallway, to private room. I sat her down and began the story. When I finished, I looked at Sydney, in order to take in her reaction.

She sat there, motionless for several minutes. She didn't do anything. She didn't move. She didn't cry. She barely even blinked. It was as if her entire body had shut down. Then without warning, she burst out laughing.

"He's dead" she repeated, uncertainly. "I can't believe it. It's just the perfect ending to the perfect day. I- I can't do this Adrian. First, my father dies. Then I kill Ian. Then Zoe was hurt. Now, you're feeling the side effects of Spirit. My mother is missing."

I shook my head. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to tell her. In all of this mess, I had forgotten to tell her about her mother.

"It's ok Sydney. She is fine. She has been trying to treat people's injuries and help in any way that she can. She knows" I said, before she could ask.

I grabbed both of Sydney's hands and placed them in mine. "There's one more thing that we have to talk about".

Sydney nodded. I think that she knew what I was going to say. "I found out this morning. I didn't have time to tell you before we came here. I took the test after breakfast. I was one week late. I've never been late before. I just knew. I had to confirm it. I was planning on telling you today. Now I-" she couldn't finish her sentence.

"I don't even know if-. I don't know if it's ok, Adrian."

Sydney began to cry. Once again, I pulled her close to me. "It's ok Sydney. I know that everything is going to be ok. We'll get some kind of test done. We'll make sure that the baby is ok. It is a Sage-Ivashkov after all. It will be a natural at surviving. It's what we do."

Sydney smiled. "That's true."

"All of the other babies will be so jealous. I mean, between your brain, your beauty, my charming personality, and my humble nature, this is going to be one heck of kid".

Sydney laughed and smiled at me. She was staring at my eyes. I couldn't help myself. I leaned forward and kissed her.

As we kissed, it was as though the world melted away. Everything that had occurred in the last few hours didn't matter. We were here. We were together. We were going to get through this.

I didn't want this moment to ever be over. Unfortunately, we were drawn back to the real world by a knock on the door. Sydney and I walked over to answer it. Donna Stanton was standing in the doorway. "Miss Sage, Mr. Ivashkov, you must follow me immediately".

Sydney and I exchanged confused glances. "We are moving everyone in this facility to another place. We are going somewhere safe. I need you two to begin rounding up everyone."

Then she turned toward Sydney. "Sydney can I count on you to make sure that everyone is in their proper place?"

Immediately, Sydney stood to attention. "Yes ma'am, of course, ma'am" she said, switching back to Alchemist mode. I realized that this must be natural, considering the fact, that Sydney may not even be considered an Alchemist anymore.

The next few hours were very difficult, to say the least. First we had to make sure that everyone was accounted for. This took us nearly an hour to do. Several people were scattered in several different places.

Once we had rounded everyone up, we had to organize two separate lines. Sydney, of course, was excellent at this sort of thing. She had always been organized and knew exactly what to do. Me on the other hand, I had no clue what to do. I followed Sydney's lead as she organized everything perfectly.

On the way out of the building, we began to see some of damage. The Strigoi had come through here and thrown everything around. Desks, computers, and papers were strewn all over the floor. There were several Alchemists that had found a place to hide in the corners.

Evidently, everybody that worked in this area had survived. I guessed that Ian and his cronies had only wanted to find Sydney. Sydney had relayed some of the story to me. She had said that I had been able to burn Ian's face a little bit before he took the lighter and threw it across the room.

Another Strigoi, that Angeline and Eddie had been fighting had picked it up. She had decided that the best way to put a quick end to the fight had been to set the place on fire. Unfortunately for her, the plan backfired. She was caught up in the flames and was the first to die.

It was also unfortunate for everyone else. Eddie had saved her from an being attacked by Zeke. He had been able to drag her away, just in time. Once the fire had started, it began to spread quickly. Everyone was running and screaming. Everyone had headed straight for the exit.

Sydney told me that Eddie had carried her kicking and screaming away from the courtroom. He had promised Sydney and Jill that he would come back for me. I knew the rest of the story. I had been conscious for the rest of it.

Stanton, Sydney, and Eddie led the group from the front. I walked at the tail end with Angeline.

There were only two people that had been unaccounted for. The only two people who had been counted as missing or dead was Sydney's father and Marcus Finch. I hadn't seen that rat since right before the Strigoi came bursting through the doors.

This face, made me believe that he had something to do with the attack. Perhaps, we had been wrong. Ian may not have been the person in charge.

We had finally reached the front of the building. We stood in line as one by one, we were led down a long, narrow staircase. Once everyone had been ushered safely inside, the door closed behind us. Angeline had the task of locking the door from the inside. When Angeline gave the signal that all was safe, we stood at attention, looking at Stanton.

She tried to project her voice so that everyone would be able to hear her. "Today, we have experienced a tragedy. Something occurred that we never feared would happen here. There was a Strigoi attack. One of our own was lost to the fire. Soon, we will have time to recognize the great man that Jared Sage was. He will receive his rightful memorial service once everything has settled down".

"Now, we have more pressing matters to deal with. We must band together. We must stand together against the Strigoi. The only way to do that, is to put aside our differences. We will be traveling to the Moroi royal court. We will all have to be discreet. We are going to need assistance. We are going to need guidance. I have called in a couple of people to help us with this journey. They are going to lead us to the Moroi court. Please be open to this" she said; as she pleaded with the crowd of Alchemists that stood before her.

My heart nearly dropped into my stomach as I saw the two men approach us from behind a corner. Both men were clearly Moroi. The first one had skin that was darker than the average Moroi. He was dressed in a pale pink dress shirt and a bright green scarf. I could see the smirk on Abe Mazur's face where I stood.

The other man, was dressed impeccably. He was wearing a black designer suit and tie. The dirt could not have been good for his pair of $1000 shoes. I saw the smug look on his face that I knew so well. I could feel the blood leave my cheeks, as I stared straight ahead into the face of my father. Nathan Ivaskov had just arrived.


	19. Chapter 19

**Hi everyone. Sorry that I haven't been able to update in a little while. I was on vacation all of last week and have been looking for jobs since I got back. I want to thank everyone who reads this story. It really means a lot to me. I also want to thank everyone for their reviews. This chapter is not action packed. However, there is some very interesting information that is revealed. I hope that you guys like this chapter **

Once Stanton had finished speaking, there were many murmurs among the crowd. None of the Alchemists were pleased about what had been said. There were several who were protesting. "We never agreed to this. We were here for a trial. We wanted to see what happened to Jared Sage's daughter" one man said. There were many cries of agreement. Several people were nodding their heads.

"It's bad enough that there were two Moroi and two Dhampirs here. Now there are four Moroi here" the man said. The crowd was getting louder. They were beginning to grow abrasive. The tension in the room had risen dramatically in the last couple of minutes.

Stanton had to step in. "Look, I understand that this is not what you are used to. However, at this time, we do not have a choice. The Strigoi have attacked us. One of our own has been killed. We must make sure that we come out of this, victoriously. We still have the matter of what we were previously discussing to resolve. At this point, I feel that the best thing to do is bring this matter to the Moroi. It does, involve one of their own as well".

I flinched as I heard the end of her speech. I tried to glance at Sydney to see how she was reacting. My guess, was that she was feeling as frustrated as I was. I chanced a quick glance at my father. I couldn't tell if Stanton had informed him of what had occurred at the trial or not. His face was impossible to read.

He was standing with both of his hands behind his back. He was looking over the crowd, taking in the sight that was before him. I could tell that he was sizing everyone up. I knew that he thought he was so much better than everyone else in the room. He _always_ thought that. Finally, the crowd began to settle down.

Stanton began to address the crowd, once again. "I understand that this has been an extraordinarily difficult day for all of us. Mr. Ivashkov and Mr. Mazur will be leading our group to the Moroi royal court. In the event, that any of you would like to leave, you may do so at this time. You must understand that you will be doing so at your own risk. We will not be able to guarantee your safety".

Many people started talking at once. Most of them seemed to be deciding if they wanted to risk going home. The majority of the Alchemists were not used to being in close contact with Moroi and Dhampirs for any extended length of time. Traveling with us, would mean that they would be in close proximity for the remainder of the trip. The man, who had spoken at the beginning, took one look at Stanton and walked away.

The crowd broke into immediate chatter. After a few more minutes, at least eight more people had left. I couldn't understand it. _Who would want to risk another Strigoi attack? For what? To go home? Did they really want to leave that badly?_

"Does anyone else wish to leave?" Stanton asked, politely. The lack of movement seemed to confirm that no one else did. "Ok then, we will continue walking until we reach our transportation. Mr. Mazur will lead the group. Mr. Ivashkov will be in the back".

I felt my heart rate increase slightly. _This is just what I needed. My father would be walking with me. I sincerely hope that our transportation is close by. _I watched as my father made his way

He made no effort to conceal his disdain for me. I was shocked when he decided to address me, at all. "Adrian" he said, in a business like tone.

"Hello father. It's so nice to see you too" I said, sarcastically.

"I'm only here to make sure that you receive the proper punishment. Once that has occurred, I will no longer speak to you. It is unfathomable that even _you_ would have to audacity to do such a thing. You never have been the brightest Adrian, but falling in love with a human, is stupid, even for you".

_Well, I guess that answered my question. _ Stanton had definitely told him what was going on. I flinched ever so slightly. I had to admit that his words had stung, much more than I was willing to show. I had to be strong. I was used to this sort of treatment but what he had said was even crueler than what he normally told me.

I ignored him and decided to continue on with a more neutral topic. "Why is Abe here?" I asked.

My father took his precious time answering. "I don't know. Stanton called him too. She informed Queen Dragomir of the attack that took place here. The entire royal court is in an uproar. There are those who believe in what the Warriors of Light are doing. Some feel that we should be out there, actively seeking out the Strigoi. That is nonsense, of course. It is entirely too dangerous to go hunting Strigoi. It would be a suicide mission for anyone involved. Then again, if there are Moroi, Dhampirs, and humans that want to lose their lives, it's no loss of sleep for me".

"So there are Moroi and Dhampirs that want to go hunting Strigoi?"

My father nodded, in response.

"There are humans who know about Strigoi and they want to kill them too?" I couldn't help asking these questions. Everything was progressing at a rate much faster than I ever would have guessed. There was no telling how much the humans knew about. It was quite possible that they knew a lot more information than they had let on in the past. I made a mental note to tell Sydney all of this as soon as possible.

The time passed very slowly as we continued to walk. Finally, we came to a stop. Abe and Stanton led the others through a door and to a small staircase. "This was designed in case there was ever any type of emergency that called for a quick escape" Stanton explained.

Most of the remaining Alchemists looked uneasily at the flight of stairs that lay before them. I got the distinct feeling that none of them had much of a sense of adventure. One by one people began to ascend the staircase. After what seemed like hours, everyone had reached the surface.

We were above ground once again. I realized that this was just the beginning of our journey. The Royal Moroi Court was hundreds of miles from where we were located. I knew that we were going to have to take all of these people to the airport. There were two large vans waiting for us once we surfaced. I couldn't imagine my father driving one of these. I guess that there was no other explanation though. Abe and my father had been the only two sent here.

Once we had arrived at the airport, boarding the plane didn't take nearly as long as I had expected. I kept trying to make my way towards Sydney. Each time I tried, my efforts were thwarted by Stanton. She informed me that Sydney and I were not allowed to speak to one another until the Moroi and the Alchemists had come to some sort of agreement. I thought about compelling her, but then I remembered what had happened with Sydney's father.

I knew that I would not be able to get away with using compulsion on her. Instead, I had to settle for wistful glances at Sydney. She looked as bewildered and frustrated by the situation as I was. The "reason" Stanton had given me, was that Sydney and I could "conspire" together and think of some sort of defense. I nearly laughed in her face when she had told me that. I was fairly certain, that Sydney admitting she was pregnant would have been reason enough, to believe that there was nothing we could say that was going to change anyone's mind.

The seating arrangements on the plane were completely different from the single file line we had recently been in. I was sitting toward the front of the plane. My father had been relocated to the back of the plane with Stanton. I was now sitting next to the one and only Abe Mazur. I knew that this was going to be one heck of a long flight. There was almost any other place that I would rather be, than trapped on an airplane with Abe Mazur as my company.

About an hour into the flight, I heard something that I had not heard before. I heard the voices that were coming from the cockpit. There were two men speaking with one another. They must have been the pilot and the co-pilot. There was something very familiar about one of the voices. I just couldn't quite place where I had heard this man speak before.

Almost in answer to what I was thinking, the man emerged from the cockpit several minutes later. "Hello there. It's very nice running into you, sir" he said, sheepishly.

I stared at him in disbelief. I was looking at the tattoo that was on this man's left cheek. Last time, I had seen him; it must have been obscured by heavy amounts of makeup. I was staring at the face of the man who had flown Sydney and I to Las Vegas.

"I don't know if you remember me. I believe that you know me as Michael Stevenson. I'm sure that you've figured out by now, that is not my real name. My real name is Michael Finch. I'm better known as Marcus' father though. It's so nice to officially meet you Mr. Ivashkov. I do hope you enjoy your flight".


	20. Chapter 20

The rest of the trip was a blur to me. I spent two hours enduring talking to Abe. Then, we have to switch flights halfway to our destination. By the time that we reached Pennsylvania, I was already exhausted. I was actually extremely grateful when we were shown our accommodations for the night.

I was itching to talk to Sydney. I wanted to see her. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to touch her, kiss her, and smother her with affection. We were both being treated as though we were some sort of criminals. The only up side had been that I hadn't had to deal with my father since before the trip began.

We were escorted down several long hallways that I knew very well. They placed me in a room that was close to the Queen's chambers. I tried to fight back the emotion that was attempting to escape. The last time that I had been here, my Aunt Tatiana had been murdered. Images of her bloody body were beginning to fill my mind.

I closed my eyes and began thinking of the only thing that would help me through this. _Sydney._ I thought about her. I thought about her long, blond hair, and her deep brown eyes. I thought about her smile, her kiss, and the way that her skin felt against mine. Finally, I knew that the morbid images of my aunt had left my mind.

I opened my eyes and looked around the room. At least, they had put me in a room that was halfway decent. I had a full sized bed. There was one lamp and one painting. The painting was of an open meadow with flowers blooming all throughout it. It was clearly supposed to be springtime.

I was very happy that I had not been thrown into a prison cell. A sudden thought struck me. I knew that _I _hadn't been thrown into a prison cell. I didn't have any idea what had happened to Sydney. I hadn't seen her since we have arrived at the court. I had only seen a quick glimpse of Sydney when we had been escorted through the court. Neither one of us had been handcuffed; but that didn't mean we would not get treated as prisoners.

It was only 9 o' clock. I paced back and forth in my room. There was a miniature refrigerator in the corner. I hadn't noticed it when I had first walked in. Since then, I had checked the refrigerator numerous times. Each time, I realized that no alcohol had mysteriously appeared. I kept wishing that it would. Unfortunately, conjuring things out of thin air was not something that was within the abilities of a Spirit User.

I probably shouldn't have any tonight anyhow, I told myself. I was going to need to have full presence of mind in order to do what I wanted to tonight. I was unsure how Sydney might feel about it though. It was a chance that I was going to take. I absolutely had to see Sydney.

The rest of the wait was agonizing. It was nearly 2 am before Sydney finally fell asleep. I had been checking on her for several hours now. I felt the rush of Spirit as the dream began to come together. The scene came together quickly. I saw Sydney across the room. She was wearing a brown button down blouse with grey slacks.

"Adrian!" she exclaimed. "It seems like forever since I last talked to you". Then she looked at her outfit. "Why am I wearing this?" she asked, in disbelief.

"I just figured that you would want to be comfortable. You can change it if you like". She nodded in agreement, but her outfit remained the same.

I couldn't stand it any longer. I ran the rest of the way toward her. I hugged her and kissed passionately. We finally were able to tear away from one another. "Believe it, or not Sage, I did actually want to talk to you."

We sat down at a nearby table. I took both of her hands in mine. "Are you doing ok? I know that you've been through quite a lot in the last twenty four hours".

"Yes, I'm doing ok. I haven't even really thought about my dad much yet. I guess I'm still in shock. I mean, I know that he wasn't the best guy. It's just that he was still my father. I know that Zoe is taking it especially hard. She and my dad were really close. She does thank you, you know. I got a brief chance to talk to her before we left for Pennsylvania.

I don't know what Lissa is going to say. I don't know what the rest of the royal families are going to decide about us. I have to admit that I'm scared Adrian. I don't want anything to happen to the baby. In fact, I would like to ask Lissa if I can have a test done. I want to make sure that the baby is ok since everything that has happened".

I put my hand on her cheek. "It's going to be alright Sage. I'm sure that Lissa will be able to get her hands on the best technology for you. I know that she has heard about what happened with us".

"Yeah" she agreed. "I would just like a chance to tell her what happened in our own words" she sighed.

"We may be able to" I said.

Sydney looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I was thinking about trying something out. The only thing is that it may be a little bit awkward".

Sydney raised her eyebrows, in disapproval. "You shouldn't do that Adrian. There are several reasons why. The most important reason is that the side effects of Spirit will be much worse. Secondly, I don't know if it is even possible for you to bring another person into a Spirit dream. Thirdly, I – she trailed off.

I looked into her eyes. "Oh Sage, you can't possibly be jealous. Alright, I won't bring her here when you're here. I won't bring her here at all, if you don't want me to. It all depends on how much you want to tell Lissa. We don't even have to talk to her. We will see her tomorrow."

I gave Sydney a hug. "No" she whispered suddenly.

I was confused. "No, what?" I asked, perplexed.

"We won't get much of a chance to tell our story. You know how these court things go. They've already decided that we are some kind of criminals. We need Lissa to know our side now. We may never get another chance like this. Lissa needs to hear the story from us, or at least from Rose. She might decide to be a little bit more lenient, once she hears our story. After all, Lissa is familiar with controversial romance. Her decision to be with Christian hasn't been looked at favorably by many. Of course, they are the same race, but she still might be sympathetic."

I kissed Sydney on the forehead. "Ok Sydney, I will do whatever you want. I think it is important that we get to tell Lissa our side of the story. You're right. She may feel more sympathetic, given her own situation. I'll go into Rose's dream, as soon as we are done here. I just don't want to let you go. I don't know when I'm going to get this chance again."

I pulled her closer to me. I could smell the faint scent of Sydney's perfume. It was intoxicating. Everything about her was intoxicating.

"I don't want to leave you either. This is nice. I want us to be able to do this for real. I wish all the stupid rules would just dissolve. I am glad to be off of those planes though. They were beginning to be a real pain".

Sydney's words sparked a memory in me. There had been several things that I wanted to tell her. I needed to tell her about meeting Marcus Finch's father. I needed to tell her about Abe. I contemplated about whether or not I should bother mentioning the horrible things that my father had said to me.

A wave of words spilled out of my mouth. Suddenly, I was just talking and telling her everything. I don't even know how long we stood there for. _How could I have forgotten to mention this earlier?_

Then I recalled something that Abe had said to me on the plane. _"Everything is going to change soon. You'll see, Adrian. It will be over before you know it". _I explained to Sydney what had happened. I told her what he had said. I asked him about it, but Abe had evaded the question. He was particularly good at doing such things. Then he had started talking about something else entirely and I had gone back to ignoring him.

Sydney was extremely intrigued by what I had just told her. The problem was that neither of could figure out Abe's cryptic message. There were a number of possibilities that met the requirements of his words.

I ran my hand over Sydney's right cheek. "I love you so much Sage. I don't want this dream to end". Then before she could do anything, I took several steps back. I closed my eyes and began searching for Rose. I could hear Sydney yelling in the background. "No Adrian don't do it. It's too dangerous!"

This was our only chance to convince Lissa that we hadn't done anything wrong. If there was any chance that I could influence what happened tomorrow, then I would take it. Rose was sleeping on a cot in front of the Queen's bedroom. She looked like a loyal guard dog just waiting for a chance to use her teeth.

She looked so peaceful. It was almost a shame to take her into another dream. I felt that way, until I saw what she was dreaming about, of course. It was Dimitri. They were doing things that I would love to wipe from my memory forever. Quickly, I pulled her into my dream.

"Hey what the -?

"Adrian what are you doing here? I was having a great night before you ruined it".

I saw her look around and take in her surroundings. It was a guardian thing. I also noticed the look of utter shock on her face. "Why did you bring me here? I was having a wonderful dream. What do you want?!" she asked, indignantly.

Rose stood there, with her arms folded across her chest. She was growing more impatient by the second. "Yes, I saw what you were doing with Belikov".

She blushed a deep red color.

"I, for one, happen to think you are in much better company now" I said, smirking.

I saw Sydney walk toward me. She was looking both amazed and bewildered. I am fairly certain I saw a slight hint of insecurity pass through her face. It was entirely unnoticeable to anyone but me. I waited until she was standing next to me. I put my arm around her protectively.

I watched as the two women ogled one another. Sydney and Rose had been friends of a sort, a while ago. They didn't have much interaction these days. "Sydney I know that you two know each other". Then, I looked at Rose. "Rose, I'd like for you to say hello to my wife".


	21. Chapter 21

There was a loud knock on my door. I looked over at the alarm clock. It read 8 am. I groaned and pulled the pillow over my head. Once Sydney, Rose, and I had finished our conversation, it was 5 am. I desperately wanted to pretend as though I did not hear the frantic knocking. Finally, the door was flung open.

I removed the pillow from my face and opened my eyes. Two guardians stood in front of me. One of them was Dimitiri. "I can see that I've awoken to yet another nightmare" I said, sarcastically.

"Good morning to you too Adrian." He threw something at my face. "Here, get dressed. Your hearing is in an hour. Evan and I will be back to escort you at 8:45".

With that, he closed the door. I stared at the pile of clothes that were now sitting on my bed. It was a grey suit with a white undershirt. I quickly inspected the suit. They were cheap Italian imitations. "I can see appearance means nothing to these people" I muttered to myself.

I laid in bed for about ten more minutes, before I forced myself to get up. I wondered if the same thing was happening to Sydney right now. Did they throw some dress clothes at Sydney too? They were probably a little bit more careful, not to throw things at her face.

I walked into the bathroom and took a quick look at my appearance. My hair was tousled about, but not in the way that I wanted it to be. I was used to not getting much sleep. However, I had to admit that I was feeling particularly tired today. My face and my hair were definitely not up to standard. This was something I was going to have to rectify rather quickly.

It only took a few moments before I began to look presentable. Still, I didn't look like I normally did. I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe no one will notice. All too soon, there was another knock at my door.

Dimitri and his guardian buddy entered the room. "Yeah, I'm coming" I said. I walked in between Dimitri and the other guy. Luckily, we were already pretty close to where the court was held. I was escorted to a seat in the front. A chill ran down my spine.

The last time that I had been here, Jill had been killed. She died right in front of me. I had made a split second decision to save her from death. Jill was now considered to be shadow kissed. She had an aura of shadows that hung around her. I had used a great amount of energy. The effects of Spirit had been markedly increased since that time. _Did I ever regret my decision to save Jill? _ That answer was easy. I would never regret my decision to save Jill.

Now, I was here with Sydney. I couldn't face the prospect of losing her too. I couldn't let them take her away from me. I wouldn't sit around and do that. I made a promise to myself. No matter what happened, I would keep Sydney safe.

Sydney was sitting at the other end of the room. We exchanged glances. Within minutes, the room began to fill with people. The Alchemists were all gathered together in on one side of the room. A Moroi with short, trimmed, brown hair walked to the center of the room. He grabbed a microphone that was sitting on a stand in front of him. He looked around the room nervously.

He was clearly not used to being in a room with so many humans, at once. "Those of us, from the Moroi Royal Court would like to welcome all visitors. Today, we are gathered in order to discuss several matters that pertain to the vampire and human races, alike. All rise, as the representatives of the royal families enter".

Everyone stood up simultaneously. We watched respectfully as the royal council came in and took their seats at a table at the front. The Moroi who had just spoken made his way back to the center of the room. "All remain standing and please show your respect as Queen Lissa Dragomir makes her entrance" he instructed.

Everyone stared in reverent awe as Lissa entered the room. She was wearing a purple dress that symbolized her royalty. I caught a glimpse of Rose and Dimitri. Each dhampir was standing on either side of Lissa. Then I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Jill was standing to the left of Lissa. She was flanked by both Eddie and Angeline. I noticed that she too was wearing a purple dress.

I wasn't the only one who seemed to notice this. Once it was deemed ok, we all sat down. There were hushed voices that carried throughout the room. "Silence" Lissa called out to crowd. Immediately, everyone stopped talking. We all sat as still as statutes, waiting with bated breath, for the Queen to speak her next words.

"The first order of business this morning is royal decree. The royal decree currently states that it is necessary for the current ruler to have one other living relative in order to be considered King or Queen. As I'm sure, you are all aware, Jill Mastrano has been proven to be my sister. She is a Dragomir by blood.

"There has been much debate over the past several months regarding what to do with this situation. There are some who stand firmly by the royal decree. There are others, who are willing to make a change. Today will count as the final vote. Whatever, is decided, will be the law until further discussion is deemed necessary.

Council, you may now vote on the matter. As you all recall, the vote must be one hundred percent unamionous in order for the law to be changed".

We all watched as those on the council left the room. I was incredibly angry that my father was going to be involved in this decision at all. He liked to do all that he can in order to make things difficult. I knew that he was probably one of those who opposed the law change.

After forty-five minutes of discussion, the council returned. A piece of paper was handed to Lissa. She acted as the judge. "The council has to come a decision. From this point on, the royal has been dissolved. It is no longer necessary that the King or Queen has one living relative.

The reaction from the crowd was mixed. There were some people who were standing up and yelling. They were clearly outraged. Others stayed in their seats and didn't say a word. There was utter shock on the faces of most people in the court room. I only spotted one person who remained unchanged. The smug face of Abe remained the same. Abe stayed in his seat calmly stared straight ahead.

"Silence, order" Lissa called to the crowd. Everyone obeyed. Lissa had always had a calming effect on people. I liked to think that this was an innate part of her personality, beyond the power of Spirit. She had a remarkable way to get people to listen to her.

"We will now move on to the next order of business. The Alchemists have decided to bring a certain matter to our attention. There was a Strigoi attack on the Alchemist headquarters, merely 24 hours ago. A prominent Alchemist, named Jared Sage was killed in a fire that resulted from the Strigoi attack. Today, we have his family members here with us. Jared's wife and two daughters are sitting in court today.

We will all pay our respects at the end of our hearing today. This Strigoi attack against the Alchemists is unprecedented. We have no records of Strigoi ever attacking an Alchemist facility before. It appears as though they are rising up. We need to be ready to withstand a future attack.

We must be prepared for anything that can come our way. We need the dhampirs to lead in this war against the Strigoi. As Moroi, we must do what we can do help. We have the elements of the earth available to us. There are even a few of us, who possess _other _gifts".

In that moment, I could swear that Lissa was staring directly at me. It was clear that she was talking about Spirit. As far as I was aware, Lissa and I were the only Spirit users here. There was more murmuring throughout the crowd. The Moroi, for the most part, did not want to be part of fighting in any way. Once again, the crowd stopped talking.

I looked over at Zoe and her mother. It was very clear that they were still in shock. Zoe had laid her head on top of her mother's shoulder. Mrs. Sage was slowly stroking her daughter's hair. I wished that there was something I could do to comfort them. I knew that Sydney was feeling the same way. I caught her looking in Zoe and her mother's direction, several times.

"The final matter of business refers in part to our previous matter of discussion. The Alchemists have found evidence that Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov are involved in a romantic relationship".

Lissa paused for dramatic effect. There were several cries of astonishment and horror that echoed throughout the room.

"Furthermore, Sydney Sage's own admission, she is pregnant with his child".

This statement had the opposite effect. The entire room was filled with silence. Everyone seemed too stunned to speak. All of the people, who had been at the Alchemist court, had heard this information before. However, many of them still appeared to be quite stunned.

This information even seemed to unravel Abe a little bit. Apparently, there had been something that Stanton did not mention to him on the phone. I looked over at my father. He looked like someone had repeatedly punched him in the face. Even as much as he disapproved of everything I did, he had _never _expected this news.

"You all may be wondering why we are discussing this particular issue. First, I am going to allow Sydney and Adrian to speak to you all. Then I will answer all questions. Sydney, do you have anything that you would like to say?"

"I would just like to say that I don't think it matters what race we are. I think that the fact that we love each other should be enough. There is no reason for anyone to tell us how to live our lives. I know that Adrian and I will both be good parents to our child. We will love him or her no matter what".

Lissa then turned toward me. "Do you have anything to say Adrian?"

I gulped. "I agree with Sydney. There is no reason that we shouldn't be together. We aren't criminals. We haven't done anything illegal. The only reason that we are here now is because the Alchemists want Sydney to be re-educated. I don't think that you can be re-educated to _not_ love someone".

"Thank you Sydney. Thank you Adrian" Lissa said. She paused momentarily, before speaking again.

"Unfortunately, there is a bit of an issue. This is brand new territory for all of us here. The problem is that there is a child involved here. Sydney Sage and Adrian Ivashkov will give birth to a Dhampir child. Since Adrian is from a royal bloodline, this will cause a division. The current royal law does not give us suggestions as to what to do with a royal dhampir. For hundreds of years, this has been a Moroi court. It will remain one for the immediate future.

We would have to come to a decision about whether or not this child should be considered royalty. It is unclear as to whether or not this child could ever be crowned a King or Queen".

This time, the room did not remain quiet. There were several outbursts all at once. Many people got up on their feet and began to yell. The majority seemed to carry the opinion that this entire thing was ludicrous. They said that there was absolutely no way that a dhampir should ever have the possibility of becoming a King or a Queen.

Lissa looked at Sydney and me. Then she began speaking directly to Sydney.

"Sydney Sage, you and Adrian may live here in the royal court if you so wish. You will both be treated with every courtesy and respect. Adrian will have all of the privileges that he is entitled to as royalty. A vote will occur in regard to the future of this child. I have recently been informed about a situation that is pertinent to defeating the Strigoi. I will need one thing in return. I will need to take samples of your blood once a month".

Immediately, I stood up. "You absolutely will not do that. You can't do this to her! She doesn't want it! She's pregnant! What about the baby?!" I shouted.

A couple of guardians grabbed me on either side. Lissa continued speaking as though nothing had occurred. I was outraged. I was fuming. _What was she doing? How could Lissa do this to us?_

"Furthermore, your blood will need to be taken through a natural means. We will continue this discussion in private, at a later appointment. This session is now over". With that, everyone stood up, as Dimitri and Rose escorted Queen Dragomir out of the Court.


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as we were dismissed, I stormed out of the court room. I walked back to my room, slamming the door behind me. I couldn't sit down, so I paced back and forth instead. Within a few minutes, there was a knock on my door. I didn't say anything. I hoped that whoever it was would go away. I didn't want to be bothered by anyone at the moment.

"Adrian, it's me" Sydney said. Immediately, I ran toward the door and opened it.

"Thank God it's you. I will not talk to anyone else right now". I looked around the room. "I need some liquor in here. I'm going to have to go buy some later."

Sydney walked over to me. She looked straight into my eyes. Instantly, I felt the heat of my anger begin to dissolve. Every time that she looked at me that way, I my defenses began to melt away. She was always such a calming presence. That was one of the many qualities that had drawn me to her to begin with.

She was looking at me with a deep concern in her eyes. In fact, it looked as though she may have been scared. Sydney had never been afraid of me before. She may have been repulsed in the past, but not afraid.

I sat down on the edge of the bed. Sydney sat down next to me. She put one hand on the center of my chest. "It's ok Adrian" she said, soothingly. "Everything is going to be ok. I'll see if I can talk to Lissa. I don't like the idea that I am going to be forced to give my blood".

I held her other hand in mine. "I'm so sorry Sydney. I didn't mean to scare you. I just got so angry when she said that. I can't believe that she's going to force you to do that. It isn't right. It's like forcing someone to perform science experiments. These people are willing sacrifice you for the good of the many. I won't allow that to happen. I won't allow anything bad to happen to you or to the baby".

Sydney looked at me seriously. "I know that you won't" she said. "I love you, Adrian".

"I love you too Sage" I said, as I pulled her into my chest. "I don't know what came over me. You know that it is very unusual for me to get angry. That doesn't happen very often".

Sydney nodded in agreement. "I think I might know what happened though, Adrian. I think it must be Spirit. We've both been through some very traumatic events recently. You haven't had any alcohol or cigarettes to numb Spirit in the last few days. I think that Spirit is really beginning to affect you now. You haven't had much time to think about it lately. I think that now things have calmed down and its side effects are beginning to seep through".

"That's a pretty good theory Sage. I think that you are probably right. What do you think I ought to do about that"? I said, slyly.

Sydney smiled at me. "Ok Adrian but be careful".

"I always am" I assured her.

I ran my hand down the side of Sydney's face and looked into her eyes. Before I knew it, our lips were locked together. This was the type of distraction that I always welcomed. It was one hundred times better than alcohol and one thousand times better than cigarettes.

I kissed her face and all the way down her neck. Then I moved on to her chest. "You know, I'm already pregnant. Are you trying for another one so soon?"

I laughed. "No, but I can still have fun can't I? Besides, we haven't done anything yet. I'm just getting started".

Now, it was Sydney's turn to laugh. "Ok Adrian, but I'm going to have to leave soon. I have an appointment".

I stopped kissing her for a moment and looked up. "You're telling me this now? The fun is just beginning" I protested.

"I know. That's why I said this is going to have to be quick. Rose told me that I can see the doctor today. They are going to do an ultrasound to make sure that everything is ok".

I sat up on the bed. "What time is the appointment? Can I come?" I asked.

Sydney looked perplexed at first. "Yeah, of course. I didn't know that you would want to come. Some guys aren't really into that sort of thing".

"Well I'm not _some_ guys" I reminded her. "I'll come with you. How did you get an appointment so quickly, anyhow?"

"Rose helped me. She talked to Lissa and she agreed that this is very important. We have to make sure that the baby is doing ok".

I looked into Sydney's eyes. Then we started kissing again. I kissed her for a few more minutes, until we had to leave for the appointment. There was a part of the Court that the Moroi went for doctor's appointments. Sydney was probably the first human to be seen by a Moroi doctor. The anatomy of humans and vampires was virtually identical.

It was really only some of our physical features that truly distinguished us from humans. Biologically, we were all the same. Sydney and I walked into an office that had a glass door with white painted trim on the sides. As we entered, a bell rang to announce our arrival. A Moroi woman opened a glass panel and introduced herself.

"Hi my name is Patty. I'm the receptionist here". She picked up a clipboard. "Here you have to fill this out" she said, handing it to Sydney.

Sydney and I both took our seats. There was nobody else in the office. "Wow, maybe Lissa does have a heart after all" I said, sarcastically. "There is no one here but us".

"Yeah, I can see that. I guess this is kind of our thing. The last time, that we were completely alone, you proposed to me" Sydney said. "Now, we're having a baby. I can't believe it" she said, sounding completely stunned.

"When you put it that way it sounds pretty romantic. Too bad we're in a doctor's office". I looked at Sydney seriously. "Did you ever think that we would be here Sage? A year ago, could you have imagined this happening? Any of this? It really is insane when you think about it".

Sydney laughed earnestly. "No, Adrian I think that it is pretty safe to say that I would never have thought that this could happen. If someone had asked me if I thought I would be married to a vampire and having his baby, I would have had your mental stability evaluated. A year ago, I didn't even want to be around Dhampirs and Moroi. Now I'm in love with you and I wouldn't want it any other way".

I squeezed her hand gently. Then I kissed her forehead. "You know, I agree with you. I couldn't imagine being with anyone else. I think I started falling for you almost as soon as we met. Did I know it was going to be hard? Yeah. Did I think that you were worth it? Yes, you are worth it ten million times over. I wouldn't trade this time with you for anything in the whole world". I began kissing her just as a door opened.

Sydney blushed at being caught doing such a thing in the doctor's office. "Well I can see why you two are here" the nurse said sarcastically.

"Sydey Ivashkov?" she asked, innocently.

"Yes" Sydney replied.

"The doctor is ready for you".

"Wow I really like how that sounds. It has a very nice ring to it" I said. We got up and followed the nurse through the doorway.

"First, I'm going to need to get your height and weight. Please come over here and take your shoes off. Then you can stand against the wall and I will measure you" she said.

Sydney obeyed and walked toward the wall. She stood up straight as the nurse measured her. "67 inches" she said. Then Sydney walked over to the scale. I could tell that she was getting really nervous. Sydney was always so body and weight conscious. She always felt that she was fat even though she was very thin.

Sydney stepped on the scale. I couldn't see the numbers. "Well that is normal but it is on the low side. You are going to need to begin taking in a lot more calories. You should gain about 30 pounds by the end of your pregnancy. Otherwise, the baby may not weigh enough when it is born".

"Okay" Sydney said quietly. The nurse led us to a room with the number five over the door.

"The doctor will be in shortly" she assured us.

Sydney took a seat on the examination table. I sat down on a nearby chair. I noticed that she was wringing her hands. It was something that Sydney did whenever she got nervous. "Are you alright Sage?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, I knew I was going to have to gain weight but thirty pounds? That's a lot. Besides that, I'm already one hundred and—one hundred and eighteen" she cried. "I'm already fat and I'm going to get so much fatter" she said.

I walked over to her and held her hand. "First of all, you are not fat. You're a perfectly healthy weight right now. The nurse even said that it was healthy but on the low side. I know that 30 pounds seems like so much more. Think of the baby. He or she will be so nice and healthy. That will be because of you, Sage. Then after you give birth, you will lose all of that weight. You will look the same as you do right now. I'll even work out with you if you want. That's a big sacrifice for me. Remember manual labor and all?"

Sydney smiled and she laughed again. "Thank you Adrian. I will make sure to hold you to that" she said. Just then, there was a knock on the door. The doctor came in. "Hello Mrs. Ivashkov. I'm Doctor Adams. I will be taking care of you today". Then she turned to face me.

"Hello Mr. Ivashkov it is so nice to meet you". She held out her hand and I shook it. "You don't have anything to worry about. Your wife is in very good hands".

"Thank you" I said. "She's very nervous".

The doctor looked at Sydney. "It will be ok. This is a very easy test. We are just going to do an ultrasound to make sure that the baby is developing normally".

The doctor began getting everything ready. She asked Sydney several questions. She made sure that Sydney had drunk the appropriate amount of water before the test. She put a weird gel on top of Sydney's stomach. Then the test began. Several grayish and black images came across the screen. "So according to what you have told me, you should be about five weeks. There is a possibility that we will be able to hear the heartbeat".

Sydney and I exchanged excited looks. "Really?" she asked. '

The doctor nodded her head. "Yes, the baby appears to be in position". The doctor took the instrument in her hand and pressed down on Sydney's abdomen. Within a few seconds, we began to hear a whoosing sound. We could hear the heart beating quickly.

"Is is supposed to sound that fast?" I asked, curiously.

The doctor assured me that this was totally normal. She told us that the baby appeared to be developing normally.

Once the appointment was over, we made our way out front. I paid the receptionist and then we started walking back to my room.

The rest of the night, we talked and kissed. We were both so excited by what had happened today. "I'm so glad that I went with you" I said.

"Yes, so am I" Sydney agreed.

We stayed up till nearly one in the morning but finally fell asleep. I fell asleep with Sydney laying her head on my chest. We were so comfortable. The only thought that loomed in the back of my mind was this mess, with them wanting to take Sydney's blood. I pushed that thought into the back of my mind and went to sleep. We slept very well that night. Unfortunately, for me, it would prove to be the last peaceful night that I was going to have for a while.


	23. Chapter 23

The next morning there was another knock on the door. "Doesn't anyone let a guy sleep around here?" I moaned. I rolled over and sat up. I saw that Sydney had already gotten up and was walking around the room. She walked over to the door and opened it. Immediately my ears were

Jill and Angeline bounced into the room. "It's been too long since we've hung out Sydney. We need to do something fun today. We should go shopping" Jill said, anxiously. Sydney looked at me. I merely shrugged my shoulders. "Go ahead Sage. Have some fun with the girls".

Sydney sat down on the bed. "What did you guys have in mind exactly?"

"I was thinking that we could go and get our hair and nails done. Then we could go buy some clothes and have dinner. We could make a whole day of it" Jill said, excitedly. Angeline didn't look like she was particularly thrilled about the idea. Angeline was standing with her arms folded against her chest.

"Shopping is not really my thing" she said, nonchalantly.

"Really? You can't tell" I said, teasing her.

Sydney gave me a warning look. I knew that it was dangerous to mock Angeline, but sometimes I just couldn't help myself. She was such an easy target. Angeline shot me a look that told me I was on thin ice. I decided to just go ahead and watch this whole thing unfold instead.

Sydney bit her lower lip. I could see the wheels spinning inside of Sydney's head. She was deciding whether or she should leave me to my own devices. "I'll be fine Sydney. I promise to not buy out the whole liquor store while you're gone. Maybe I'll see if I can hang out with Castille or something. You should go have fun. You deserve it".

"How are we going to pay for all of this?" Sydney asked.

"I think that you must be forgetting something Sydney. I'm officially royalty now. I'm the Queen's sister. I have my own bank account. This shopping trip is on me".

Even after hearing this, Sydney still looked a little bit uneasy. It went against Sydney's nature to spend money in any frivolous way. "Well ok, I guess it should be fine". She looked at me again. I walked over to her and kissed her on the forehead. "Go, have fun. I'll call you later". Jill's eyes lit up, like she was a little kid. "This is going to be so much fun!" she said, sounding absolutely ecstatic.

Sydney, Angeline, and Jill started to leave. "Don't forget to eat a lot of calories, Sage" I called after her. She kept walking and didn't look back.

Once Sydney left I had to find something to do. _Maybe I should make good on what I told her and find Eddie. _At least, if I was with Eddie, I might not run into Dimitri. I was really hoping to avoid him, if at all possible. Now that we were living in the same place though, I wasn't sure if that was going to be much of a possibility.

It didn't take me too long to figure out where Eddie was. He was a Dhampir and it was after 9 o'clock. Dhampirs survived on human food and they ate a lot. Dhampirs had to eat a lot in order to keep up their strength. There was a restaurant that was on the far side of the Court. I walked through the doors and scanned the place for Castille. I saw him sitting at a table on the right side of the restaurant.

The problem was that he was not alone. He was eating breakfast with Rose. _Wonderful_ I thought to myself. _I can turn around before they see me. _I turned and started walking back to the entrance of the restaurant. "Hey Adrian, over here!" I heard Eddie call from behind me.

I turned around and began to walk over to the table. I could see Eddie waving his hand, to show me where they were. I took a seat at the table next to Eddie. _This is going to make for some awkward conversation._

"Morning Adrian" Rose said, politely.

"Morning Rose" I said, trying not to sound too fake. Eddie took another large bite of his omelette. I noticed that Rose was looking all around the room. It wasn't in the usual guardian way though. I was almost certain that she was avoiding looking at me.

"Are you attempting to perform a reenactment of the way that you looked when I told you about Sydney and I being married?" I asked Rose.

Eddie stopped chewing long enough to stare at Rose. I assumed it wasn't common knowledge that others were aware of our marital status. Eddie had been at the wedding, so he was aware of the situation. I will never forget the look on Rose's face when I had told her in the Spirit dream.

"Yeah you're real funny Adrian. Just like old times" she sneered.

"Yes, well it's not very often that you are caught so off guard. I actually thought that you might faint the other night".

"I just didn't think that _you _were the marrying type" Rose pointed out.

"Oh that hurts Hathaway".

Eddie was watching the two of us banter back and forth. He looked like he was watching a tennis match.

"She has a point you know" Eddie chimed in, all of a sudden.

I turned to look at him. "Who asked you Castille?"

"Don't talk to Eddie like that" Rose warned.

"He butted into our conversation" I pointed out. "I suppose that you _both _have a point though. I never planned on getting married now. I wasn't sure I was going to get married ever, actually. Sydney changed that. She changed a lot of things for me".

Rose imitated a gagging sound. Then she said "Well I've got to hand it to her, she must have a lot of patience to put up with you. She must be pretty special. Who knew that the infamous Adrian Ivashkov would turn out to be a husband and a father? I take that back. We all knew he'd be a father someday. Actually Adrian are you sure this is your only kid?" Rose asked, sarcastically.

"Haha very funny Rose. Yes, I'm quite sure that this is my first and only child to date". I decided to change the subject. "What are you doing here anyhow? Shouldn't you be guarding the Queen?"

Rose's demeanor changed instantly. Even talking about Lissa made her tense. "Dimitri is her guardian for right now. I'm not taking over until tonight".

"Yeah, the same thing happened with me" Eddie said. "Angeline went shopping with Jill, so I don't have to be her guardian until later tonight".

"What do you know about the blood samples?" I asked Rose.

Rose looked at me, in a near pitiful way. " Lissa said that it is important to get samples of Sydney's blood. It needs to be tested so they can determine why it is so repulsive to Strigoi. She said that she is going to assign Sydney to a Moroi. Some of her blood will be drawn up and put into vials for testing. Then she is going to have a Moroi drink directly from her vein so that it can be tasted. We need to find out if Sydney's blood is repulsive to Moroi as well".

I felt the color rush out of my face. Before I even knew what was happening, I slammed my fist down on the table. A glass tipped over, spilling orange juice everywhere. "Hey man there's no need for that. You need to relax" Eddie.

Rose looked at me with pity and concern. I was certain that she understood what was happening. "How long has this been going on Adrian?" she asked, seriously.

"I've been feeling it in bursts since yesterday. I tend to react like this whenever I hear something that I don't like or disagree with. It's terrible. I'm usually only depressed when Spirit takes over. Now, it's like I'm turning into the Hulk or something as well. I really didn't need another complication right. It's like when I feel it, I'm not in control. Then someone will be able to calm me down and it goes away" I explained.

Rose nodded in the same way that a psychiatrist would, who was listening to you talk about your problems. She looked like she needed a clipboard and a black pen. "I hate to bring this up, but don't you have something that can help you? I mean, I know you usually smoke cigarettes and drink. If this is really getting out of hand maybe you should buy some".

"Wow is Rose Hathaway actually encouraging me to smoke and drink?"

Rose nodded curtly. "I think that you could use some vodka or something. There's a store not far from here, where you can buy some" she explained.

"I don't want to buy any, if I don't have to. I promised Sydney I won't smoke. I've really been trying to cut down on the alcohol. Actually, I haven't had any in the last week.. There's been so much going on that I haven't even had a chance to buy any. The first night without it, was pretty bad. I was going through those withdrawal symptoms that I've heard about. It was awful. I didn't tell Sydney though. I didn't want her to worry about me. I'm only going to buy it, if I really need it Rose. I won't let it get out of hand. I promise" I added, when she looked skeptical.

"You need to be careful Adrian. You need to be extra careful around Sydney. You might not be able to control what you do, when this occurs. You need to make sure that she understands that. You have to tell her that this is happening again".

"I will be careful. You know how much I love Sydney. I don't want to do anything to screw that up. She saw me really angry yesterday morning. She came to the same conclusion that you did. Sydney is aware of what Spirit is doing. We just have to figure out the best way to deal with it".

Rose looked more convinced now. "Alright, we'll try to keep an eye on you. We want to make sure that you're ok".

Eddie looked at me too. I was beginning to feel like I was at a meeting for addicts or something. I saw so much pity and sorrow in their eyes. "Let us know if you need help. We'll try and do what we can" Eddie added.

"Yeah, sure thanks guys. I'll let you know what's happening. I've got to go now. I want to see if I can find Sydney".

They both said their goodbyes and I began to walk away. I had just made it to the entrance, when I heard a scream. It was a bloodcurdling scream that rang throughout the air. Then I heard the sound of gunshots follow it. People were running in every direction.

I ran toward the center of the Court, where the shops were located. I began screaming out for Sydney. Suddenly, I was surrounded by several men wearing entirely black clothes with masks over their faces. "You'll be coming with us," one of them ordered. I felt the butt of a gun being thrust into my back, as I was led down a hallway that ended at the Queen's chambers.


	24. Chapter 24

**I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed by story so far. All reviews mean so much to me **** I love everyone who had supported this story. I hope that you all will continue to read and review. **

My captors stopped right in front of the Queen's door. I could hear people moving around on the other side of the door. I was sure that Dimitri was attempting to hide Lissa before the intruders came in. There was no doubt in my mind that everyone had heard the racket. The man who had stuck his gun into my back spoke. "We're coming in there and we're going to capture the Queen!" he shouted through the door. "I'm giving you a few seconds to open the door before we break it down.

I had been on the other side of that door many times. I had talked to my aunt on numerous occasions while she was in her room. These hostiles obviously hadn't done their homework very well. The door was fitted with reinforced steel. Furthermore, once you were inside of the room, there was a panel in the floor that opened up. Lissa could easily hide in there, at least for a while.

There was no answer from the other side of the door. The man standing next to me began pounding his fists against it. I nearly burst out into laughter. "That's not going to do you much good buddy" I said, snidely.

He walked over toward me and punched me in the face. I felt blood trickle down my face. I quickly took my hand and placed it on top of my nose. Within a few seconds, I could feel the bones realign themselves. I saw the man who had punched me, smile behind his mask. "We've got Adrian Ivashkov out here and we know he's royalty. If you don't open the door in the next ten seconds, I will blow his brains out" he said, threateningly.

I felt my heart rate accelerate immediately. I began to sweat and my hands were trembling slightly. These guys didn't look like the sort of people who kidding around. _Come on Dimitri, do something. Please, do anything. I don't want to die. I want to be with Sydney and out baby. _

I knew one thing for sure. Even if Dimitri didn't care about me, I wasn't going to go down without a fight. I would force these hands to perform manual labor. I had seen enough spy movies right? How hard could it be?

The man began counting down and I felt fear course through my body. He had gotten down to five and I was about to make my move. I tried to send a mental message to Sydney. _I love you Sage. Please remember that, always. _I focused my thoughts on gathering the energy of Spirit. Perhaps, I could confuse them for long enough that I would be able to escape.

The words three, two, one, echoed in my mind as I made my move. I could see the men looking at me strangely for a moment. I had been able to confuse them long enough to hit one of them. I elbowed the one the stood behind me in the eye, just as I heard the creak of a door opening. He yelled and dropped his gun.

The others were too stunned to move quickly. I ran down the hallway, as I heard a fight break out from behind me. I heard the sound of bodies falling to the floor. Then I heard the earsplitting sound of a gun going off in a close proximity. I ran back down the hallway to see what had happened.

I saw two of the men in hooded masks lying lifeless on the floor. The other two had evidently escaped by using a nearby hallway. I saw Dimitri sitting on the floor, clutching his right arm. One of the men must have shot him, before running away. "Are you alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah, just peachy" he said, sarcastically. I knelt down next to him and placed my hands on his arm. I concentrated once again, and the power of Spirit began coursing through me. Within a couple of minutes, Dimitri's arm had returned to normal.

"Thanks Adrian" he said, sincerely. I held out my hand and Dimitri reached for it. I helped him up and he brushed himself off. "Is Lissa ok?" I asked.

"Yes, she is in the panic room. I'm going have to move her eventually though. Do you know how many of them there are?"

"I was just got done having breakfast with your girlfriend and Castille when everything went insane. I saw a _lot _of these guys coming from all directions. I don't know where Rose or Eddie went to. Most importantly, I have no idea where Sydney is right now. I hope that she is ok" I said, sounding concerned. Do you have any clue as to what is happening here? What do these thugs want?"

Dimitri shrugged his shoulders. "It looks like whoever has orchestrated this wants to take over the government. That's my best guess. We have to get out of here though. We can't stand around and wait for more of them to show up".

"Before, we do anything else, I have to move these guys" Dimitri said. He picked up the two men, one by one, and put their bodies down toward the end of an adjacent walked into Lissa's room, locking the door behind us. Dimitri quickly walked over to the left side of the room and knelt down on the ground. He knocked on a wooden panel two times. I watched as the wood panel slid open and Lissa emerged. "Oh Dimitri thank God you're ok" she said, as she hugged him. "I was so worried. I heard gunshots".

"I'm ok too. Thanks for asking, Lissa" I said.

Lissa turned to look at me, as though she hadn't noticed that I had been standing there the whole time.

"Oh hi Adrian. I'm sorry; I'm still in a bit of shock. Have you seen anyone else? Do you know if they are ok?"

I shook my head. "I haven't seen anyone since I left the restaurant. It was right after that, that we were attacked. Whoever captured me, knew exactly who I was. He also knew exactly where your chambers are located. I think we have traitors in our mist Queen".

Lissa took a seat on her bed. "I can't believe that this is happening. I don't know if Christian, or Rose, or Jill are ok. I don't know how many are dead. This is awful. It's all my fault too" she sobbed.

Dimitri sat down next to Lissa. "It's not your fault Lissa. We didn't know that this was going to happen. You had no way of knowing that we were going to be attacked".

Lissa shook her head back and forth. "You don't understand, Dimitri. I'm the Queen. I'm supposed to be able to protect my people. We've heard rumors for a few weeks that there have been uprisings across the country. We had been given word from some of the Alchemists that everything was under control, though".

"Then there's the Warriors of Light. They want to kill us all. The Strigoi are gaining more to their ranks on a daily basis. They are determined to kill the Moroi too. Now since the royal decree has been changed, there are many people who are upset. Several Moroi voiced their opinions that the decision was not right. We could be under attack by our own people. Did they seem like Moroi to you Dimitri?"

Dimitri looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yes, at least three of the four appeared to have the build of Moroi men. One of them may have been a dhampir or even a human. I could take a look at the two that I killed in the hallway.

Immediately, Lissa spoke up. "No, it's too dangerous to go back out there. We have to come up with a plan before we can do that".

We all turned toward the door as we heard another knock. "We are having a meeting Queen. Everyone will be there. You must come out and face your people. You can't hide in your room forever. There will be guards waiting for you when you decide to comply with the rule" a man said.

It was a voice that I recognized. It was the voice of a rat. "Marcus Finch. I should have known that you would be behind something like this. You have no regard for life, other than your own" I yelled through the door.

"Those are some pretty harsh words Mr. Ivashkov. You, the Queen, and her loyal bulldog aren't going to be able to hide behind this steel door forever. Besides, you probably don't want your wife to have to remember you as a coward".

Next, I heard another voice that I recognized. "Adrian, I'm out here" I heard Sydney say. Her voice was shaking and I could sense that she was petrified. "Sydney!" I yelled. "I'm here. Don't worry. Everything is going to be alright. I love you".

I could hear her crying softly on the other side of the door. "Ok Adrian. I love you too" she cried.

I wanted to open the door and run out there. I felt as though there was some force that was keeping me inside. Something inside of me, warned me not to leave. I slammed my hand against the door angrily. I started screaming a string of profanities at Marcus. "Don't you dare touch her. I swear it'll be the last thing that you ever do" I said, through clenched teeth.

"Tsk, tsk, Adrian. I was expecting more from you. I can't believe that you would curse like that in front of your unborn child. I would have thought that Sydney would fall for someone a little bit more well mannered. I'll see all of you in ten minutes. You will meet us in the center of the Court for a little demonstration".

I turned toward Dimitri and Lissa. "We have to do something. We can't just sit and hide in here! We don't know what he's going to do to Sydney or Rose or—or anyone else!" I screamed.

"Ok calm down Adrian. We have to have a relaxed head about all of this. We are going to have to face them. We're not going down without a fight". Dimitri pulled a silver stake out of his jacket. "I always have this on me, since I have been assigned to protect Lissa. Rose should have hers on her as well. This will kill any Strigoi but it is also useful on Moroi, Dhampirs, and humans".

Even I had to admit that Dimitri always seemed to be calm. It was actually pretty crazy that he almost never lost control. "Lissa I will make sure that you are protected. I won't let anything happen to you" Dimitri assured her.

Lissa was scared but she appeared confident in what Dimitri told her. "Adrian and Lissa you both can use Spirit to help confuse the guards".

I nodded. I felt like I was taking orders from a Sargeant in the army. "Thank you by the way, for coming out when you did" I said to Dimitri. "I'm not sure, I would have been able to get away otherwise".

Dimitri raised one eyebrow. "Is that honesty, gratefulness, and sincerity I hear Ivashkov?" he teased.

"Yeah, but don't push it" I said. "We have a whole bunch of people to go save".

I unlocked the door and Dimitri rushed the two guards. Lissa and I both concentrated. The power of Spirit would be greatly multiplied with both of us using it at once. The two men had a dazed look on their faces. Dimitri took this opportunity to knock both of them out.

He then took the two men and threw them into the nearest room. We took the uniforms the men had been wearing, along with the guns. Dimitri turned toward Lissa. "Tell me what you want me to do Queen. I will not leave you, unless you give me orders to do so. I cannot leave you unprotected".

"Sir Belikov, you are hereby released of all guardian duties. You may perform other duties, because of the current state of emergency".

"Thank you, my Queen" Dimitri said, as he bowed to Lissa.

Dimitri instructed Lissa to hide in the best possible spot in the court. Lissa nodded and took off down on nearby hallway. She went into a room, located on the right, and closed the door behind her. Dimitri then looked at me. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, I suppose". I already felt sweat on the palm of my hands. These uniforms were hot and itchy. I wasn't used to carrying a gun._ Who would've thought that they would be so heavy?_

Part of me of was excited. I felt like a kid on Halloween, dressed up as James Bond. The other part of me was terrified. _What would Marcus do to us when he realized what happened? Would he shoot us on spot? Would he make us suffer first? What would happen to Lissa? Was she going to be ok by herself? Where was Sydney? I prayed that Sydney was alright. _

We walked into the place that had been nicknamed "the mall". It took me a few moments to see what was going on. There were approximately 100 people who lived and worked inside of the Court. They were all lined up next to one another, and forming a circle. All of the armed men were standing in various sections of the mall.

I saw Sydney standing in the far left corner of the mall. Some of the men looked at us as we got closer. Marcus was the only one standing there without his mask on. As soon as he saw us, he began walking toward us. It was clear that he was furious. "Where are they?" he yelled.

Dimitri was the one who answered. "They escaped sir. There must be a way to travel into another room through the Queen's chambers. We combed the room for them, but we didn't find any hidden panels" he said. Dimitri shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

"I will deal with you two later. Now we must get started with the demonstration. Perhaps the Queen and her two pets will come for the show. Either way, we will have them locked up by the end of the night".

"Now I suggest that we get started" Marcus said. He marched straight on over to Sydney. He then instructed one of his henchman to unlock the handcuffs and shackles that he had placed on her. I wanted to start screaming and run at Marcus. Dimitri put a calming hand on my shoulder. "Don't do anything. You'll give us away" he warned.

Marcus escorted Sydney to the center of the mall, so that everyone could see. "Word has it that you have special blood. I've been told that it is repulsive to Strigoi. We're going to test this out right now".

I watched in horror as a Strigoi walked toward Sydney. I wanted to close my eyes. I didn't want to watch this happen. I was sure that I was in a nightmare. The Strigoi put his disgusting lips on Sydney's neck. I heard her cry out for an instant.

He sank his teeth into her neck. He didn't last more than two seconds. The Strigoi wiped his mouth and attempted to spit out the blood. "That is very intriguing" Marcus remarked. "Now let's see what happens when a Moroi drinks some".

A Moroi man stepped out of the shadows. He had been standing very far back from everyone else. He placed his gun down and mask on the floor. As he approached Sydney, the light shone on his face. I gasped audibly as I realized what was about to happen. He walked up to Sydney and looked directly in her eyes. Then I watched as the fangs of Nathan Ivashkov sank into Sydney's neck.

I ran out into the mall screaming "Stop! Get off of her. Get away". I knew that Dimitri was right behind me. I was amazed that I had been able to get away from his grasp. It appeared, that even Dimitri had been astonished by who the Moroi was, that was drinking from Sydney.

Within seconds, the whole scene had changed. My father looked at me, with Sydney's blood still dripping down his mouth. Marcus was now standing in between Sydney and me. Suddenly, I found myself surrounded by nearly 30 men with guns, all pointing directly at me.


	25. Chapter 25

_Prisoners. _This simple word rang through my mind over and over again. I kept replaying the scene that had occurred less than one hour ago. I hadn't acted as I should have. I didn't stop to think. I did the only thing that I could think of, at the time. My mind and body had only been concentrating on one thing: _Sydney_.

I remember running out into the middle of the mall. I saw Sydney's face for a split second, before Marcus had stepped in front of her, blocking my line of sight. All of the armed men had turned on us at the same moment. We were surrounded by guns, pointing at us. They were all waiting for orders from Finch.

Surprisingly, Marcus had not ordered them to shoot us on the spot. He wanted everyone to be taken in as prisoners. I think that may have been his intention from the start. Marcus Finch was a rebel. Marcus Finch was after power. Now Lissa was all alone, hidden somewhere inside of the Court. It was just a matter of time before they found her.

When I looked at Dimitri his aura was glowing, a bright red color. I had never seen him look so angry. I knew that what I had done was wrong. However, I was also fairly certain that we wouldn't have been able to keep up our charade for much longer. It would have been only a matter of time before Marcus had figured out who we were. I hated the man, but unfortunately he was no idiot.

There were too many of us for them to take down to the jail, all at once. They had placed us all into groups of about ten or fifteen. Five guards led us single file, down into the prison. I was unsure if the prison would even hold all of us.

I wasn't surprised to find out that all of the prisoners had been released. Still, there were approximately 100 of us, who had been captured. It appeared as though, we would be living in very close proximity to one another.

I had to find a way to talk to Marcus. If there was one shred of humanity inside of him, he would at least, give Sydney better accommodations that the rest of us. I knew of one way that I was going to be able to talk to Marcus.

Eddie was walking in front of me in line. "Come on Castile, keep it moving. You're slowing down the whole line".

Eddie turned around and glared at me. I was going to need a better reaction than that. I needed him to get angry. _Too bad Dimitri isn't in front of me right now. He would have surely loved to throw a punch or two at me right now. _ I tried again.

"Seriously Eddie, you are walking slower than my dead grandmother". I paused briefly, because I knew that the next part would hurt him. I didn't want to do it, but Eddie, and the ways of the guardian, were stopping him from retaliating. I needed him to turn around again. I needed to convey a message about what I was trying to do.

"No wonder Angeline cheated on you with Trey. You couldn't make a move, if your life depended on it".

This remark worked. In fact, it may have worked a little bit too well. The guards had decided that it was unnecessary to bind our hands and feet with shackles. They believed in the force of the gun. Everyone in the line was moving forward, because of the fear that they might be shot.

Eddie immediately turned around and punched me hard in the face. Immediately, two of the guards ran over to us to break up the fight. "Take that one to Marcus" he said, pointing at me. I looked at Eddie once more, before being dragged away. "Thank you" I mouthed to him.

Eddie looked extremely confused. The poor guy had no clue as to what had just happened. As far as he was concerned, I had just bated him into punching me, and then thanked him for it.

I was led in the opposite direction, with yet another gun poking me in the back. Marcus was sitting on a chair inside of the court room. He had his legs up on a table and was eating an apple. He looked up, when he heard footsteps approaching. "What happened?" he asked, sounding impatient.

"He was bating another prisoner" the man answered. "The other guy hit him in the face. I think his nose might be broken".

I purposely hadn't healed myself, so that I would have an excuse to be here for a bit longer. I felt blood running down my face, from where Eddie had hit my nose. I was in pain and extremely uncomfortable. I hoped that it would all be worth it in the end.

"Leave him with me" Marcus ordered. The man that he had spoken to seemed very hesitant to obey. After a few seconds, he gave in.

"Okay sir" he said.

Marcus didn't even reach for his gun. "Have a seat Mr. Ivashkov" he said, gesturing to a nearby chair. "What can I do for you?"

"I need for Sydney to be separate from everyone else. She's pregnant. She must have a good amount of food. Please, I'm begging you. Don't let anything bad happen to her. You used to be friends with her.

Marcus put his hand on his chin. He was clearly trying to figure out what to do. "Okay" he said.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This was way too easy. "What do you mean okay?" I asked, cautiously.

"I mean, that Sydney is special. We're going to continue to study her. I can't have my most valuable asset go to waste. You don't worry about Sydney, Mr. Ivashkov. You will be well taken of. We have to figure out why her blood is so repulsive to Strigoi and Moroi alike. In the meantime, we'll see to it that the royal dhampir is taken care of as well. You will now be escorted to your cell. Goodnight Mr. Ivashkov. Oh by the way, you can fix your bloody nose now. The beat up look doesn't suit you".

Marcus took a two way radio out of his pocket. "This is Marcus. Nathan, come in".

I heard my father's voice respond on the other end of the line. "Yes sir. What do you need?" he asked.

"Your son is in my office. I need you to take him to his cell immediately".

"I'm coming sir" he responded.

Within a couple of minutes, my father appeared at the entrance to court. "Come with me, Adrian" he instructed.

I had to gather all of my will power, in order to restrain myself from attempting to kill him. I had never felt such hatred in all of my life. He, like many of the others was no longer wearing the mask.

"I don't want to have to bring the gun out again Adrian. Please walk with me and I'll take you to your cell".

"Oh how very kind of you father. Really, that is wonderful. I am so happy to have such a bonding moment with you".

My father ignored all of my sarcastic comments. We proceeded to walk back to the prison. "How could you? How could you do that to me? How could you do that to her? She never did anything against you. Sydney didn't do anything wrong".

My father shook his head. "She did everything wrong. She fell in love with you. You're a Moroi. She's a human. This is disgusting. It's disgraceful. No Moroi should ever be with a human; especially a royal one. Nothing good ever comes from being romantically involved with a have shamed your family".

I nearly burst out laughing. "I've shamed the family? You're the one who helped Marcus capture all of us. You're the one dressed in all black, toting a gun around. You're the one who drank Sydney's blood". I was beginning to yell now.

"You hurt her! You scared her! You took her blood forcibly and you don't even care" I yelled.

"Adrian calm down. I really don't want to have to use force on you".

"You're suddenly so caring Dad. Yeah, thanks a lot. I'm so sorry that I've been such a disappointment to you father. Now you can take pleasure in locking me up."

We had finally reached the prison. My father reached for a set of keys that were attached to his belt. He opened up the door and I walked in. "Goodbye Father" I said, as he locked the door behind me.

I paced back and forth in the cell until I couldn't take it anymore. I had no choice but to attempt to get some rest. I laid down on top of the small, old, dirty cot that was supposed to pass as a bed. I tossed and turned for a while before I finally fell into a deep sleep.

Suddenly, I was transported back to a spot that was eerily familiar. I was standing on the top of a hill, overlooking a cemetery. Three small figures stood in front of the gravesite. I waited for them to depart and then made my way down the hill. I looked at the engraving on the tombstone and felt fresh tears falling down my cheek.

This was so strange. I felt like I was having déjà vu. I was so certain that I had been here before. I had the feeling that I had experience this before. All at once, my surroundings disappeared and I woke up in a cold sweat.

I sat up on the edge of my cot. I hadn't had that nightmare in months. It didn't make any sense that I should suddenly have it again. I wished desperately that I could talk to Sydney right now. Did I have this nightmare because of Spirit?

Should I try to contact Sydney through a Spirit dream? I decided that I would check to see if she was asleep. I lucked out. She was sleeping. I saw Sydney standing in the corner. She wasn't facing me. "Sydney" I said, quietly.

She turned around to face me. "Adrian!" she cried out. I couldn't wait any longer. I ran to her and hugged her tightly. "Are you ok Sydney? I love you so much. I'm so sorry for getting us into this mess".

"I love you too. I'm doing ok. Marcus didn't even make me stay in the prison. He- he gave me a room. I mean there are two guards standing outside of my door, but it is a room. Oh Adrian, I'm so sorry that you have to be in prison".

Sydney put her hand on my face. "It's not your fault Adrian. There's nothing that you could have done. Marcus was going to find out eventually. We had all been captured. Please don't think that you did anything wrong" she said.

"I know Sydney, I just felt bad about what I happened. I was helpless. I couldn't do anything. I wasn't able to protect you. I couldn't protect you from Marcus. I couldn't protect you from—him" I said.

My eyes wandered over to her Sydney's neck. Immediately, Sydney's fingers traced the bite marks in her neck. "Do you want me to heal you?"

"Would that even work since this is a dream?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I can try if you want" I suggested.

Sydney looked like she was deep in thought. "Well I guess you can try—if you want" she said, hesitantly.

"I'll only do it, if you want me too".

Sydney nodded. "Yes, go ahead".

I placed my hand on Sydney's neck. Once again, I felt the power of Spirit. Within moments, I felt the wounds in Sydney's neck begin to close up. I didn't want Sydney to have a scar, where the Strigoi and my father had bit her. I knew that I would not be able to keep her from emotionally scarring though.

I hugged her and kissed her. I didn't want this dream to ever end. I wanted to be with Sydney the rest of the night. I wanted to be with her always. "I want to see you in person. I wish that Marcus would allow visiting hours in prison".

"I'd like to come see you Adrian. I don't think I'll be able to though".

I hugged her as Sydney put her head on my chest. We kissed once more before I let her go. I looked directly into Sydney's eyes. "I have to tell you something".

Sydney looked at me, with great concern in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Well I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not. I don't want you to worry".

"That's not helping Adrian. That is only making me worry more. What's going on?"

"Well before I came to visit you, I had been sleeping. I had a nightmare".

"And?" Sydney inquired.

"It's the same nightmare that I had a few months ago. I think I might have mentioned it to you once before. It was a nightmare, in which you had died. It's always the same. I'm standing on hill, overlooking a cemetery. There is a crowd of Alchemists that are gathered around a tombstone.

Once the Alchemists leave, there are only three people that remain. Those three people are your mother, your father, and your sister. They place a few flowers at the tombstone and then get into a car. I walk down the hill after they leave and look at the tombstone. Then I talk to you and I cry". My voice began to break at this point.

"Sorry Sage, I think I must have allergies in this dream".

Sydney smiled at me. Then she reached up and kissed my forehead. "It's ok Adrian. I love you. It's ok that your nightmare makes you scared. It's ok that it makes you sad. I just hope that you will be ok. It sounds like Spirit is really starting to bother you. Try to be strong. You will be ok" she assured me.

"Thank you Sage. I love you too. You will help me to get through it". I held her close to me. We stayed this way for a long time. I kissed her gently on the lips. Then the dream began fade away. "I'll see you soon" I said, as Sydney's figure disappeared before my eyes.

A few hours later, I awoke in my cot. I nearly jumped up and started yelling when I opened my eyes. It took a few seconds for my eyes to focus. Standing outside of my jail cell, was a Moroi woman, who was staring at me. I looked back into the green eyes that were staring at me. It had been a long time since I had seen them. "What are you doing here Mom?" I asked, in astonishment.


	26. Chapter 26

I couldn't believe it. At first, I thought that I had woken up from one dream and immediately entered another one. My mother was standing right in front of me. I hadn't seen her for nearly a year. My father had made visiting extremely difficult. Then I had been shipped off to Palm Springs and visiting my Mom had been turned into an impossibility.

"What are you doing here Mom? How did you get here?" I asked.

"Marcus let all of the prisoners go. He made us promise not to interfere with what he was doing. I don't have much time. I had to sneak down here past two guards. Your father is upstairs, making sure that no one comes down here."

"Dad is helping you?" I asked, incredulously. "Dad hates me Mom. He would never do anything to help me."

My mother's eyes narrowed. "I know that he is harsh. I hate him sometimes too. He's never been good at showing affection."

I scoffed. _That was really the understatement of the century. _"You're telling me" I said, sarcastically.

My mom kind of half smiled and half frowned at the same time. She was the one that I had inherited my witty nature from. She hadn't always been the best mother but she was still leaps and bounds better than my father.

"I suppose that you've heard all about Sydney" I said, sighing.

She nodded. "I can't even imagine. I'm going to be a grandmother."

"I'm glad that at least, you seem to be ok with Sydney and I being together. I think that Dad wants to permanently disown me."

My mother's demeanor suddenly changed. "I want you to be careful though Adrian. Relationships with humans can be very tricky. I don't want you to end up regretting this." She paused for a moment. "As far as your father, he does love you. He doesn't want you making the same mistakes that he did."

"Wait, what mistakes?" I asked. She didn't have time to answer though. We both looked up at the same time. I could hear footsteps approaching. It was time for my mother to leave. "Goodbye Adrian. I love you. Remember what I said okay?"

"Yeah Mom, I love you too" I said, as she disappeared once again.

Being in prison, put simply is absolutely no fun. I was not cut out for something like this. I could see the people in the other cells. Eddie was in a cell across from me. I could talk to him if I wanted, but there still wouldn't be much to do.

One of Marcus' men came in to serve "breakfast". It looked like horse slop. I was so thankful to be a Moroi right now. I wouldn't get hungry as soon as humans or dhampirs would. The one question that remained was: will I get blood? It had already been a couple of days since I had had any. The day that Sydney and I had gone to the doctor was the last time. After the appointment, I had gone to the part of the court where the feeders were kept. I had drank some blood and then returned to Sydney. She preferred to not accompany me whenever I went for feedings.

I looked over at Eddie. He looked terrible. He looked as though he hadn't slept in days. Even Eddie let the food sit on the floor for a while before he ate any of it. I think it was supposed to be oatmeal and eggs. "Hey Eddie are you ok?" I asked.

Eddie sat up on his cot. "Since when do you care?" he asked, bitingly.

"Listen Eddie, I'm sorry about yesterday. I only said that so that the guard would take me to Marcus. I-I needed to talk to him."

"About what? Did you want to see if you could get special treatment? Do you need a king sized bed your _royal_ body to sleep on? Did you want to tell him that you join him? Which is it Adrian?" he asked, icily.

I felt a chill run down my spine. I had never seen Eddie so upset. I knew that he didn't always approve of things I said and I did. I mean, it wasn't like we were best friends or anything. Still, I thought he liked me, at least a little bit. The things that he was saying now sounded like pure hatred.

"You're right Castile. I did want to talk to Marcus to get special treatment. I wanted _Sydney_ to get special treatment. I wanted to make sure that she was safe. I wanted to make sure that – that the baby is ok. Alright? Is that a good enough answer for you?"

Eddie looked a bit taken aback. "Look Adrian, I'm sorry. It's just that what you said yesterday—well it hurt. I did like Angeline for a while. I know that she's crazy. I can't really explain it. There's just something about her that was really intriguing. It's not easy for me. I don't have women stumbling over themselves to get to me. I'm not you" he added, quietly.

I looked down at the ground for a moment. I honestly wasn't sure what to say. This was the first time that Eddie and I had ever _really _talked. Finally, the awkward moment passed.

"How's the food?" I asked, changing the subject.

"How do you think it is?" he said, sarcastically.

"If it tastes, the way that it looks, then I'd say that it is probably horrible" I said.

Eddie nodded. "What is Marcus' plan anyhow? Is he going to keep us here forever?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I have no clue what he is doing."

After that, Eddie and I stopped talking for a while. We both just laid back down on our cots. Around dinner time, a guard appeared in front of my cell with more than food. "We are going to have a cell mate from now on" the guard announced.

"Why are you putting him here?" I asked.

"He was misbehaving. Marcus figured that a Spirit user like you might be able to calm him down" he explained.

I was about to protest and say that it didn't really work like that. Unfortunately, he didn't care and he slammed the door shut before I had a chance to say anything. Dimitri walked in and sat down on the cot that was opposite of me. _Eddie is so lucky that his cell is only big enough to fit one person. It was looking more and more like this was somebody's idea of a practical joke. _

"What could you have possibly done to get kicked out of your cell? You always obey the rules."

"I told them that I missed you too much. I can't be away from you for too long Adrian" Dimitri said, smirking.

"Wow you're really funny for a Russian. So what really happened?"

"I was making a racket so that they might take me to Marcus. I wanted to scope out the situation to see what our best chance of fighting back is."

I smiled. "I see that it didn't work huh? I pulled nearly the same stunt yesterday. They took me straight to Marcus. I guess it only works with certain personalities" I said, nonchalantly.

"You're always so humble, Adrian. I think that's what I liked best about you" Dimitri said.

Suddenly, I heard Eddie begin to talk.

"Shut up you guys! Some of us are trying to get some rest around here. Stop bickering like an old married couple. Dimitri, you're with Rose. Adrian you're with Sydney. You both love these girls more than anything. So please shut up!"

Dimitri and I stared at one another. We were both dumbfounded. "Yeah, you're right Eddie" Dimitri said. "We won't do that anymore. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too Eddie. We were both acting like idiots. Dimitri and I are going to shake on it."

Dimitri stared at me for a moment. Then he extended his hand. I took it and we shook hands very briefly.

That night I found myself having the same nightmare. I woke up once again, in a cold sweat. I could feel the dark shadows of Spirit starting to come over me. I was beginning to lose focus. Suddenly, I only had depressing thoughts forming in my mind.

I kept seeing images of the fire. I saw the smoke and fire was consuming everything. I thought back to Zoe lying helpless on the floor. I thought about her being trapped underneath the wooden desk. I remembered Jared Sage coming to help me. He saved his daughter and then handed her over to me.

He had died. It had been my fault. Everything was my fault. I had brought the lighter with me. I had taken it out. I had set Ian's face on fire, before he had pressed it out. He must have been the one to set everything on fire. The fire had started because of me. Zoe had been in danger because of me. Sydney's father had died because of me.

Then I started thinking about what had happened while we were at court. _I _had made the mistake. I had run out to Sydney, blowing our cover. We were trapped her because of me. Dimitri had even been furious with me. Everything that had happened seemed to be a direct result of something that I did.

_I _had fallen in love with Sydney. _I _had pushed her to be open to her feelings for me. _I _had proposed. _I _had convinced Sydney that it was ok to rebel. _I _had taken her to Las Vegas to get married. _I _thought that it would be ok. _I _had never thought that this would happen.

I heard a sound in the distance. It sounded like someone was clapping their hands. Then suddenly, I heard a voice. It was saying something. "Adrian! Adrian! Come back. I need you to come back."

I recognized the voice. It was Dimitri. For several seconds, I had no idea what was going on. _Why was Dimitri here? _"What's going on?" I asked, confused.

"You were gone. You were totally spacing out. It must have been Spirit. I've never seen anything like that before. I mean, I've the effects that Spirit has had on Lissa; but this was different. It was like you had no idea who you were. You didn't even know I was here. You didn't where you were. You just kept muttering "_It's all my fault. It's all my fault."_

"Wow it was that bad huh? It's not usually like that. Sometimes when I'm with Sydney, she is able to bring me out of it, before it gets too bad. I don't have alcohol. I don't have cigarettes. I don't have Sydney. I haven't even had any blood in the last two or three days."

Dimitri stared at me, looking awestruck. He looked as though, he'd just met his favorite celebrity or something. "I can't imagine that. I can't even imagine what it must be like to go through that" Dimitri said, sympathetically.

"Yeah" I said. "That's the gift of Spirit. It shows you images of everything that you could possibly ever feel guilt about. Sometimes, it even throws a few things in that aren't entirely your fault. It takes you to the darkest places. There are even times, when you feel like you want to kill yourself. It makes you think that you're worthless. Spirit just keeps on giving.

Sure, there are a few perks. I can heal myself and others. I can confuse someone into believing something else. I can disguise appearances. I can walk into other people's dreams. All of those things are very useful but, the usage of those gifts comes at a very high price. It takes your sanity away."

I hadn't talked about Spirit like this in ages. The strangest thing about it, was that I was opening up to Dimitri. He was the last person, I had ever expected to talk to. I had once mentioned all of this to Sydney. It felt like ages ago, though.

Sydney was the only person who could help me right now. I wanted to see her so badly. I wasn't sure if I could. I wasn't really even sure if I should. I hadn't felt this depressed in- well maybe ever. Even after the second Strigoi attack, it had never gotten this bad. The worst part, was that I had no idea just how much worse it was going to get.

Four more days passed. Every day was getting harder and harder. I was to the point now, where I couldn't even stand up. I guessed that Marcus' strategy was to slowly starve the Moroi to death. I hadn't had blood in nearly a week.

I was eating human food, but it wasn't nearly enough to sustain me. It was impossible for a Moroi to survive soley on human food. In fact, Marcus had ordered that Dimitri be transferred to another cell. He must have really wanted me to die. He had transferred Dimitri the day after I had first felt the terrible effects of Spirit.

_He must be playing games with me. He knows that I'll die without blood. I wonder what he's trying to pull off by doing this. _

The answer came later that night. I was fazing in and out of consciousness. I was beginning to not be able to tell the difference between the real and the imaginary any more. When I saw her face, I was certain that she wasn't real.

"Oh my gosh. Adrian! You need help. You need blood. I've begged Marcus to let you have blood."

I looked at the girl who stood in front of me. Her long golden hair was beginning to weave together with her brown eyes. "Sydney?" I asked, uncertain if I was able to still trust my senses.

"Adrian, I'm here" she said. She put her hand through the bar and held onto mine. As far as I could tell, there was a guard standing next to her.

"Let me see him" she instructed. When the guard didn't move immediately, she gave him a stern look. "Marcus said I could go in" she reminded him. Without further hesitation, the guard opened the door.

Sydney rushed over to me and began hugging my torso. I felt her tears run down my shirt. "Adrian, I love you so much. Marcus said that you can have some blood."

"Great" I said, wearily. "Where is it?"

Sydney said nothing for a moment. "It's here" she said.

I looked around but I didn't see anyone else. I didn't even see a blood bag. "Where?" I asked, again.

"It's me, Adrian" she answered. "He said that you could only have blood, if you take it from me."

I slowly shook my head. "Even if I wanted to, you know that I can't. Your blood can't be used. It doesn't taste right."

Sydney leaned closer to me. "I know, Adrian, but you have to try" she cried out.

"I don't want to hurt you" I said, I coughed.

"It's ok, Adrian. You won't hurt me. I promise" Sydney said.

She finally got me to agree. "Ok, I will then. Come a little bit closer."

Sydney obeyed, without question. I looked at her beautiful neck. I didn't want to harm her. Marcus was leaving me with no choice. Slowly and carefully I sank my fangs into Sydney's neck. It only took a split second before I was able to taste the blood.

The blood flowed into my body, like a much a needed IV solution. I felt the warmth of it run through my mouth. Then something occurred to me. This shouldn't be happening. This was supposed to be horrible. Instead, Sydney's blood tasted blissful. It was smooth and felt like the texture of honey. It was unlike any other blood that I had ever tasted. It was wonderful. It felt like my life was being renewed. It was a brand new energy source.

I stopped drinking. Sydney looked so incredibly happy. "This is amazing! This means that you can drink from me!"

"Yeah that's awesome. The question is: why can I drink from you?"


	27. Chapter 27

The next several days passed, and I was feeling rejuvenated. Drinking Sydney's blood had made me feel energetic and more alive. I hadn't had a nightmare since I had drunk from her. The side effects of Spirit had lessened considerably. I wasn't feeling as guilty as I had previously.

From time to time, I felt sadness threatening to overwhelm me. However, it wasn't threatening to _consume _me. Tonight, I would get to see Sydney. I was planning on visiting her in a dream tonight. I was so excited to see her, even though it had only been four days since her last visit.

Four days seemed like four years, in prison. I walked around my cell, just pacing back and forth. The only way that I was able to keep track of the time, was when Marcus' men brought food down here. It was always one o'clock when lunch was served.

There was timely organization to everything that Marcus carried out. The same guard brought me food every day. It always came at one o'clock. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were served every other day. I wasn't even sure, how long I had been in here. I was beginning to lose track of time.

I was fairly certain that we had been thrown into these cells to rot, nearly two weeks ago. Each day passed as slowly as the one before it. Nothing suggested that today would be different from any other day so far. Nothing, that was, until I saw the face of the man who was bringing me lunch.

"What are _you_ doing here?" I asked, crossly. He was dressed in a black suit and wore a bright, blood red, ascot around his neck.

"I made a special deal with Marcus. I wanted to talk to you" Abe said. He smiled that devilish smile of his.

"So you made a deal with the devil. Why does that not surprise me?" I said, haughtily. "You must have done something in order to get out of jail. What did you use as your get out of jail free card?" I asked. "Besides, why would you want to see me? We're not exactly buddies Abe."

Abe smirked again. He started speaking, but as expected, he totally dodged my previous question. "Adrian, you need to remember to pay attention to things that I say. Remember what I told you on the airplane? I need you to think about those words. I need you think back to a few months ago. You were living at Clarence's house. I told something important, something specific. You need to think about that. Be aware of what is missing. Also, make sure that you eat all of your food. It's good for you to eat."

Abe turned around and left as quickly he had come. I was left standing in my cell, trying to make sense of what had just occurred. I sat down on my cot and threw my hands up in the air, in frustration. Then I noticed Eddie watching me from across the way.

"What was that all about Adrian?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It looks like it might be a cold day in hell before I'm able to figure that out Castile. You know Abe and his riddles. He never says anything in a direct manner. You probably can guess just as well as I can" I said, sounding exasperated.

We talked for a little while longer before I started pacing again. Abe's words hung in the air. I just couldn't get what he said, out of my mind. I racked my brain for any details that I may have missed. I started thinking back to the brief period of time that I had stayed at Clarence's house.

_What was it exactly that Abe had said? _Abe's words began to come back to me suddenly as though I had written down in a journal that I hadn't read in months. He had given me instructions to keep an eye on everyone. **"Listen. Listen and watch." Watch **_**everyone- Clarence, Lee, the Alchemists, Jill, and Eddie. Pay attention to every word, every detail, and report it to me later. It may all be useful."**_

I couldn't understand why this would be important. He had wanted me to watch everything because Keith was stealing Clarence's blood. He was using Clarence's blood in order to make special tattoos. Abe had been in competition in other parts of the world, selling vampire blood. At least, that was what we concluded when Abe didn't deny the accusations that I had made against him.

I didn't know how this could possibly help me now. _What was I supposed to do? What am I a supposed to take away from all of this information? _I waited the rest of the day until I was able to see Sydney. I had so much that I wanted to tell her. I had forgotten to tell her what had happened with my Mom.

I had been so focused on the fact that I could drink blood from Sydney, the important information that I had learned from my mother had escaped me. Sydney fell asleep much earlier that I had expected.

It had just turned midnight, when I was able to find her. I decided to make Sydney feel more at home. I manipulated the dream so that we were standing inside of my apartment. Sydney was sitting on the couch, wearing long black pants and a white button down shirt.

"Hello gorgeous" I said, gently.

Sydney looked up, when she heard my voice. "Adrian are you ok? How have you been feeling?" she asked, immediately.

I took a seat next to her. "It's incredible, really. I've been feeling so much better. I don't know why your blood makes me feel like that."

Suddenly, Sydney glanced down at the floor. I put my arm around her. "What's wrong Sage?" I asked.

"I think I know why you feel that way, Adrian" she said, slowly. "I found out that Lissa feels that way too" she whispered.

"What? Lissa? She's been drinking from you too?"

Sydney nodded her head. "Marcus has been making her drink from me too. We-we knew that my blood is special. It seems that it is only drinkable if you are a Spirit user. It seems to help dim the side effects, and gives off some kind of energy" she explained.

At this point, I had jumped up off of the couch. I was furiously pacing the floor of my old apartment. It felt good to be back in Palm Springs, even if it was only a dream.

"He can't do that! He shouldn't do that! He shouldn't be making me drink from you, much less Lissa. It's too much for you. It's too much for the baby. If he were here right now, I would kill him" I said, vehemently.

Sydney stood up and placed her hand on my arm. "No, Adrian, don't do it. I know what you're thinking. It's not worth the risk. Besides, then he will just make me give you blood sooner" she said.

This statement calmed me down. Sydney knew me so well. She knew that I had been contemplating bringing Marcus into this dream, and ripping him limb from limb.

"I'm being cautious. I am drinking _lots _of water and other fluids. I know that will help with any blood loss that occurs."

I kissed Sydney gently on the mouth. "I love you so much Sydney."

"I love you too Adrian."

I squeezed her hand. "It'll be alright. We will get through this."

"I know" she said, quietly.

I began to tell Sydney everything that had happened. She seemed to be even more stunned than I had been, when I told her what my mother had said. "Is she implying that your father was with a human?" she asked.

"I don't know. She might have been saying that. I don't have any way to really know for sure. I can try to visit her in a dream tomorrow night. I guess I could ask her. I don't know if she will tell me though. Then there's Abe. He always speaks in riddles. Do you have any idea what he meant?"

Sydney looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm well I guess the first thing to do is look at your food. Did you eat it?"

I stared at Sydney, incredulously. "Seriously? You think that is the key? No, I didn't eat it. It tastes horrible."

"Do you still have it or did they pick it up already?"

"It's still in my cell. They only take out the food trays once per day. They'll come back and collect them in the morning."

"I think that maybe Abe left you a message. You need to check carefully and make sure that nothing important is there. As far as, what he told you when you were living at Clarence's house, I don't know. That is much more confusing. It would seem that since we turned in Keith, that information would no longer be valid. However, if Abe asked you to think about it, he must have a reason. I think he must want to tell you something, but he can't say it outright. He wants you to figure it out on your own" Sydney said.

"I know Sage; I just don't know what to do. I'm not Sherlock Holmes. I'm not you. Solving crazy riddles isn't exactly my forte."

Sydney looked in my eyes. "I know that you can do it."

I kissed her again. She always had such confidence in me, even when I didn't. I hugged her and we kissed one more time. Then I got up from the couch and started to leave. That was when I looked at Sydney's face. "Sage what's wrong?"

I saw tears that began to run down her face. "I-I don't know how to say this Adrian. I wanted to tell you as soon as I saw you. I—uh- overheard something today. I heard Marcus talking to someone. He- he said that—that" she couldn't continue.

I gently pulled Sydney close to me. Her head was lying on top of my chest. I felt her tears run down the sleeve of my shirt. I began to stroke her hair. I kissed her head. "What's going on Sydney?"

She looked up into my eyes. Then she was finally able to continue speaking. "He said that—he said that he—he doesn't need me anymore. He said that once the baby's born that he's going to kill me" she finished.

I looked straight into Sydney's eyes. "I will never let that happen. Do you understand? No matter what happens, I will make sure to protect you. I'll make sure that you are safe."

Sydney nodded. "Okay" she whispered. "I love you Adrian."

"I love you too Sage. I'll see to it that Marcus understands that sentiment. I love you more than anything."

I cupped my hand under her chin. I placed the other hand on top of her shoulder. I felt her place her hand on the nape of my neck. I leaned down and kissed her. We kissed until, it was impossible to hold on any longer. Slowly, my fingers left her shoulder.

"I love you Sage. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sydney nodded. "I love you too Adrian" she said, softly.

Then what seemed like a fleeting moment was over way too soon. The dream dissolved and suddenly I was alone again, in my cot.

Before I fell asleep, I decided to do one more thing. I walked over to where I had placed the tray and picked it up. I picked up each item of food and began to dig through it. I had really made a huge mess by the time that I had finished. Finally, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

A miniscule piece of paper had been hidden under some mashed potatoes. It didn't me very long to read the note. There was just one word that was written on the piece of paper. Abe's handwriting was scrawled across the note. It was a name. A name that meant so much and so little: Dorothy


	28. Chapter 28

"Is it time?" Marcus asked, sounding impatient. The silence that followed was nearly unbearable. After several moments, Marcus noticed a nod in his direction. It was a good thing he had been paying so much attention. He would have missed it, had he looked away for just a moment.

"Very well, Master, I will begin gathering the Moroi and Dhampirs. What shall I do with the Alchemist and that Ivashkov boy?" Once again, he waited for a response.

"You will bring the Alchemist to me. You may do whatever you please with the Ivashkov boy. The Alchemist girl is the only one who is important."

Marcus bowed slightly. "Yes, Master I will do as you say."

Marcus turned, closing the door behind him. One thought crossed his mind: _This is going to be a long day. _

I awoke in my cell and sat up immediately. I wiped the sweat from my brow and tried to stop my hands from shaking. I had just had the same nightmare again. It had been four days, since I had drank any of Sydney's blood. I could feel the effects of Spirit more and more, recently.

I was hoping to feed today. Moroi were supposed to feed twice a week, at least. I had read the name scrawled on the piece of paper over and over again. I couldn't understand what Clarence's feeder had to do with any of this.

I hadn't seen Abe since he had given me his cryptic message, a few days ago. The only thing that I could do, was to visit her in a Spirit dream. I wasn't even sure if that was possible. She was hundreds of miles away. I would have to focus greatly on her in order to make that happen.

To be honest, I never had paid a whole lot of attention to her. Dorothy had seemed nice enough, but she had been closed off from me most of the time that I had lived at Clarence's house. She was the housekeeper, but she hadn't really ever talked to me.

On days that we had had feedings, she was so high and euphoric from the endorphins that had been released into her bloodstream; she wasn't really of much use. I had a nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach. Abe, despite all of his flaws, always gave out solid information. I knew that if he had taken the time to write that note and pass it on to me, that there must be some significance.

I wanted to figure out a new plan. I needed a different strategy. I was in no condition to try and reach her through a Spirit dream. I would definitely need blood in order to accomplish this task. It seemed, nearly as though someone could tell exactly what I was thinking.

It hadn't been ten minutes since the thought had crossed my mind, when Sydney entered my field of vision. I felt as though I had walked straight into a wonderful dream. Sydney was looking as beautiful and radiant as ever. Even though, it had only been a few days since I had seen her, I felt my heart speed up, in automatic response.

"Sydney" I breathed, quietly as she approached. She smiled at me.

"Hi Adrian," she managed to say. The guard was eyeing her closely, though I didn't feel that was necessary. There was absolutely no way that she would have able to escape the watchful eye of the guard; much less break me out of prison.

The guard unlocked my cell door and ushered Sydney inside. It was clear that Marcus was still treating her well. She looked healthy. She must have been eating and sleeping normally. I could tell that she was holding back tears. I couldn't even imagine what kind of ragged mess I must have looked like.

I could feel all of the stubble beginning to emerge all of my face. I hated that feeling. I had never had any intention of growing a beard or mustache. Sydney sat down next to me on the cot. I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. I could see the guard giving us dirty looks. "You're just supposed to feeding. That's it, Ivashkov. I would advise you to follow directions."

I looked at him, but didn't say a word. Sydney stared in my eyes for a moment. Then she leaned closer to me, and began to move her hair away from her neck. Slowly, I moved toward her. As gently as I could, I placed my fangs on neck and began to drink. Once again, I was filled with the warm rush of blood. It tasted like honey, with the texture of silk. The smoothness of her blood, made me feel nearly euphoric.

_This must be what it felt like for a feeder, _I thought briefly. Even though, I was on the opposite end, it was as though, I was the one receiving the endorphins. No wonder they didn't mind giving their blood. I wondered what Sydney was feeling. What was it like for her? Did she feel anything at all?

Slowly, I removed my mouth from Sydney's neck. All too soon, the guard was leading Sydney away. "I love you Adrian," she said, as she was led back into the main Court area.

"I love you too Sage" I murmured. With that, Sydney was gone, and I was left once again sitting in my cell.

I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep, until I opened my eyes. It was very dark inside of my cell. I had no way of knowing what time it was. I sat up and looked around. I decided that I might as well take advantage of the strength that Sydney's blood offered.

I thought long and hard for several minutes. I tried to focus all of my energy on Dorothy. I tried to remember what she looked like. I pictured Clarence's house first. This part was easy. The image of Clarence's house floated into my mind, as clear as day.

The next part proved to be much more difficult. I had to concentrate on Dorothy. She was the only person that I could be thinking about. I wasn't even sure this was going to work with a normal human. It worked with Sydney, but she was an Alchemist. Finally, I saw a picture of Dorothy in my mind's eye.

Suddenly, I saw her right in front of me. "Dorothy?" I asked, feeling very unsure of myself. I was definitely inside of Clarence's house. I knew in my heart that I was now standing before the correct person. Still, I had to make absolutely sure that this was her.

She turned around and stared at me, a quizzical look on face. "I'm Dorothy" she answered in a kind voice. She was looking at me as though I was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. "I'm Adrian Ivashkov" I said. "I used to live at Clarence's house."

She looked at me for just a moment longer. Then I saw a spark of understanding on her face. "You're a Moroi" she said, in a matter-of-fact tone. There was no question in her voice; it was only a factual statement. "I remember you. You used to drink from me. You and that other Moroi girl used to drink from me.

"Jill" I said, helping her out.

She nodded. Dorothy crossed her arms and her eyebrows creased. "What are you doing here?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. Abe Mazur gave me a note with your name on it. I just came here to see if you knew what he was talking about."

Dorothy shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about" she said.

I guess I shouldn't have expected anything. I knew that it was a long shot. At the same time, I still couldn't help but to feel disappointed. This woman did not even know what I was talking about. There was no way that she was going to be able to help us form and escape plan.

"It's alright. I don't know why Abe wanted me to talk to you. I should have known there was no way that you would be able to help us. I'll just have to tell Abe he was wrong. I'll have to tell Sydney that he was wrong. She'll get a kick out of that. I'm sorry to have to disturbed your sleep. I'm going to go now."

Dorothy's eyes had lit up. "Did you say Sydney?" she asked, sounding incredulous.

I turned around and stared at her. "Yes, I said Sydney. So what?"

"What's going on? Is she okay?"

Now, it was my turn to cross my arms. "Why do you want to know? You barely knew Sydney. I barely know you."

Dorothy took a deep breath. "I need to make sure that she's ok. I—I'm supposed to be looking after her."

"What are you talking about? Most of the times that I've seen you; you've been too high to notice most things. You want to believe that you are trying to protect her? You could be working for Marcus for all that I know."

I turned around again to leave, when she began to shout out.

"You don't understand Adrian! I've been sent to watch over her. I've been watching over all of you this whole time."

I looked at her in amazement. _What is this crazy woman going on about?_ "Why would you do that? Who are you?"

She didn't answer me right away. "I'm not just looking after Sydney. I've been watching you guys not only as a favor to my cousin. There's a lot more to the story than that. You have to believe me" she said, sounding desperate.

I looked into her eyes. I could tell that what she was saying was the truth. There was something in the way that she looked at me, that reminded me of someone else. I couldn't figure out who, at the moment. There was warmth and sincerity behind her eyes. She looked honest and trustworthy. She suddenly looked like someone that you would trust with your life.

She no longer looked like the woman who enjoyed the feeling on fangs sinking into her neck. She no longer looked like some sort of junkie. She looked different. There was something in the way that she looked at me, that made me want to trust her.

She took a deep breath. I've been watching you guys to make sure that your brother is ok, Adrian."

"My brother? I don't have a brother. You are clearly insane!"

Dorothy looked straight into my eyes. She took a few steps closer to me.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear. You may have never known this, but your father had an affair years ago. He had an affair with a human. Your half brother was born as a result. I'm Eddie's mother. My name is Dorothy Terwiliger. I think that you know my cousin, Jackie."


	29. Chapter 29

It seemed like years had passed, before I was able to speak again. "Are you telling me that Eddies my brother?" I asked, in disbelief. "That's not possible. Eddie isn't an orphan. He has a family" I protested.

Dorothy looked at me, as though she were staring at a lost and wounded kitten. "Eddie's parents are both dhampirs. You know that dhampirs cannot reproduce with other dhampirs. He was adopted. Eddie knows that he is adopted, obviously. He just hasn't come around asking questions yet. Perhaps, Eddie doesn't want to know who his biological parents are.

Nathan made sure that he would be placed with a loving family. It was my only request. We had to keep what happened between us, a secret. The Moroi world could never know. Eddie's parents never even knew about what happened between me and your father, Adrian."

"How can you expect me to believe this? How can you expect me to believe you?"

Timidly, Dorothy took two steps closer to me. "Look at me, Adrian. You can see the resemblance. I know that you can. I saw you piecing everything together, before I said anything. I know that he looks like me. We have the same eyes. We have the same smile. I could tell, that I reminded you of him" she said, softly.

I knew that she was right. The moment that I had gotten a good look at her, I knew she reminded me of someone. All the time I had lived at Clarence's house, and I never knew the truth. Eddie had never known the truth. None of us had even guessed at what she was now telling me. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Even as I still trying to process this information, I knew that it was true.

She had the same calm and gentle tone that I so often associated with Eddie. I had always thought that maybe, it was because he was a dhampir. I nearly laughed out loud when this thought crossed my mind. _Come on, Adrian. You know that is not true. You have met Rose. _

I never would have thought that Eddie was the son of Clarence's housekeeper. He was more than that, though. He wasn't just somebody's illegitimate son. He was my brother. _He's my brother. _I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept.

How could I have had a brother, all these years? He was here the whole time. I had never even realized it. I looked down and realized that I had been rubbing my hands together. The skin was red and painful. I noticed that I begun doing this lately. I suspected that it must have been a nervous habit. I must have developed it after I had quit smoking and drinking.

I decided that I would like to be sitting down for the rest of this conversation. Immediately, two chairs appeared out of thin air. I sat down on one, and motioned for Dorothy to do the same. "Tell me what happened" I instructed.

Dorothy began talking. When she had finished, I sat back in my chair. I stared into the distance for several minutes. There was nothing that I wanted to do more, than to disappear. I wanted to be alone. I had to ask questions. I had to know that I understood everything correctly.

"Let me get this straight. You and my father met 20 years in a bar?"

Dorothy's face turned scarlet. I could tell that she was very embarrassed to tell me this. "I guess that figures. I always knew that I got my drinking tendencies from my father" I said, grudgingly.

"So basically, you and my dad had an affair. You got pregnant. He shunned you. Yep, that sounds like my dad. Now, this is the part where the whole thing gets complicated" I said, putting one hand on my face.

"Abe knew about the whole thing?"

Dorothy nodded. "Yes, Abe and Nathan used to be good friends. Abe thought that your father was being unreasonable. He thought that we should tell the Moroi about Eddie. Abe felt that Eddie should be included in all the privileges that come with being from a royal family. Abe thought that Nathan should go to the Court and explain the situation.

Your father didn't see it that way. He saw Eddie only as a liability. He knew that he would have to confess everything to Danielle. He didn't want that. You were so little. You were only three years old when Eddie was born. Abe finally gave in to your father's demands. He agreed to keep our secret safe. He made sure that Eddie was given to a suitable dhampir family.

Abe had his own interests to attend to. Rose had just been born a couple months earlier. Abe swore that he would never tell anyone what happened. I suspect that your mother eventually found out that Nathan had cheated on her. A woman's intuition is very strong."

I nodded. "Yes, she knew that he had cheated on her. She found out he had been with a human. I don't know, if she has any idea about Eddie, though. She probably doesn't know."

"So are you a witch? Does Eddie have supernatural powers?"

Dorothy frowned. It looked like she was trying to hold back tears. She sighed. "After I got pregnant, Jackie found out what had happened. She guessed, before I had a chance to tell her. She agreed that she would not tell anyone. However, her sister, my other cousin was not as trusting. She knew that Jackie was hiding something from her. Veronica was always very powerful and persuasive. She was able to extract the information from Jackie's mind. Once she knew my secret, there was nowhere for me to hide. She forced me to come with her to the coven. She explained what happened and they decided to punish me.

It was the worst form of punishment imaginable. They performed a ritual, in which they stripped me of my powers. I haven't been able to perform magic for nearly twenty years. The truth is, I don't know if Eddie possesses any power. He may have it, but he is not able to tap into it. He has never tried."

She was quiet for a moment. The silence filled the air like a thick cloud of smoke. Finally she looked at me again. "I know, that you must think I'm awful. I really didn't have a choice. I didn't want to give Eddie up" she said, her voice breaking.

"I loved him. I still love him. I kept in contact with Abe after all these years. He was able to give me updates on Eddie, every few months. Abe was my only connection to him. Then, recently I was given an opportunity I never dreamed that I would have.

Abe came to me, saying that Eddie was going to be staying in Palm Springs for a while. He said that he had found a way for me to be near him. He easily talked Clarence into hiring me as a housekeeper and a feeder."

She shuddered, as she remembered something extremely unpleasant. "I didn't want to be a feeder. I didn't want to act like I was high. It was the only way, that I could see him. It was the only way that I could be near him. Even though, I had been stripped of my powers, I still have a much higher resistance than other humans.

I was able to stay in control of my body and my senses most of the time that I was being fed off of. I had to pretend that it affected me, more than it really did. All that time, I was so close to Eddie. I could see him. I knew that he was ok.

Then I met Sydney. I could sense that she was a magic user right away. I informed Jackie of my discovery. It was soon after that, that Jackie approached her. She took Sydney under her wing and mentored her. Now, I had another reason to stay where I was. I needed to try and make sure that nothing bad happened to Sydney.

Jackie and I have been in contact about everything, since you all have arrived. We have been helping and protecting all of you, as best as we could. When we thought Veronica was going around stealing the life out of young women, Jackie wanted to involve Sydney.

I warned her that it was dangerous. She assured me, that Sydney was special. She was a prodigy. She told me that she would be able to handle it. Luckily, for Sydney, she had your help. She had your love her every step of the way. That's everything that happened. That is the whole truth" she said, sounding exhausted.

"Now, I've got something to share with you." I took a deep breath. It's better to get it all out at once, I figured. "Sydney and I are now married. She's pregnant. Then to top it off, we have all been captured by Marcus Finch."

Suddenly, I felt a rush of wind. I felt like I was being sucked into a vacuum. The dream disappeared and I woke opened my eyes. I was inside a circular room. I was no longer inside of my cell. I rubbed my head. It felt like I had landed face first on a pile of cement. "What's going on? Where am I?" I asked, aloud.

I saw a dark shadow pass in front of me. "Hello Adrian" a sickly sweet voice said. I recognized the voice at once, and recoiled in fear. I found myself, with my back up against a wall. I could feel the sweat beginning to trickle down my face.

As the figure emerged, I was able to tell that something was very different. I looked up and saw that I was staring straight into the burnt face of Alicia.


	30. Chapter 30

**I want to thank everybody who has read this story so far. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed it. All of your words mean so much to me. A lot of stuff happens in this chapter. There are several reveals. This chapter is sad. I promise to make it better though. Please trust me. I hope you all enjoy it. Please review. Once again, I want to thank everyone for reading. I love writing this story **

I closed my eyes and then opened them again. I saw a white ceiling above my head. I realized that I was lying down. I was on a long, leather brown couch. "Good afternoon, Mr. Ivashkov." Alicia was standing over me. "What happened? One minute, I'm standing in front of you. The next minute, I wake up on a couch. How did I get here? Where are we at?"I asked.

Alicia smiled, clearly pleased with herself. "I performed a little bit of magic. I gave you a light sleeping potion and led you over to the couch. I figured that you could use the rest. You had a long night, talking to Dorothy. Besides, using that much Spirit is bound to make you very tired. I have a very interesting day planned for us, Adrian. You are going to need all the rest that you can get. Don't worry. You didn't sleep too long, only five hours."

She bent down, so that her face was within inches of my own. I could feel her hot breath on my skin. "You know, I can see why so many girls fall for your charm. You do have a certain appeal." She ran a long, slender finger down the side of my face. I shuddered but attempted not to move. I didn't want to do anything to make her want to demonstrate her magical powers.

At this proximity, I could even see the shape of the scars on her face. The right side of her face had been badly burned. Most of the skin had been repaired, but she had been left with several ugly scars. I saw Alicia's eyes, following my gaze.

"They're nice aren't they? My scars, I mean. I'll have these for the rest of my life, thanks to your lovely girlfriend." She paused momentarily. "Oh, sorry, I meant _wife_. I have been meaning to bring you both a wedding gift. I must have left it at home. That was _terribly_ inconsiderate of me.

To answer, your previous question, we are still inside the Court. This is a room that most people don't know about. It is a study. The current monarch likes to spend his or her free time here."

"What are you doing here? Are you working with Marcus? What do you want from us?" I asked, trying to mask the fear in my voice. I knew that I was dealing with someone who was extremely dangerous and powerful. Then another thought occurred to me. "How did you take me out of the Spirit dream? How did you even know I was _in _a Spirit dream?"

Alicia laughed. It was a cold, cruel sounding laugh, filled with malice. "Am _I _working _with _Marcus? That's ridiculous. Of course, I'm not working with Marcus. He is working _for _me. Did you really think that that nitwit was smart enough to pull all of this off? Did you think he could really instill fear and loyalty in the men who have been helping us? As for, _what _I am doing, I will have to show you. I trust that you will not attempt to do anything stupid. Follow me," she commanded.

I didn't want to go, but I didn't have much choice. I didn't want to take a chance that she might kill me. Reluctantly, I followed Alicia out of the room. We walked down a narrow corridor. I had never traveled this far into the Court before. We were far past the Queen's chambers. I was sure that most people didn't even know that this existed. Finally, we reached the end of the hallway. Alicia opened a door on the left and ushered me inside.

We were standing inside of what looked like a laboratory. There were men and women in white lab coats. They looked exactly like human doctors. However, these men and women were Moroi. "I am conducting experiments down here. They are blood experiments. Sydney's been very cooperative. Well, she had to be, so I'm not entirely sure that it counts as loyalty. Nevertheless, it has helped me further my cause."

She has been giving her blood to you and to Lissa. We have been taking blood from Lissa, after she drinks from Sydney. We've been testing it. I'm sure that you know what we found. There are magical properties in Sydney's blood. "Strigoi aren't able to drink Sydney's blood," I objected. "It tastes terrible to them. How can you expect this to work?"

"I had to use a Strigoi to experiment on. I found that once we combined Sydney's blood with Lissa's blood, the Strigoi were able to tolerate the taste. It still doesn't taste good to them, but it is not vomit inducing, as it was before. The power that I have observed is incredible.

So far, I have experimented on one of the Strigoi. I have found that this blood makes him stronger, faster, and gives him the ability to heal himself over and over again. He has other special gifts as well. He has the same power that Lissa possesses. Lastly, he has the ability to perform magic. He isn't quite on Sydney's level, of course. However, he has proved to be a quick learner. You, Mr. Ivashkov are the last piece of the puzzle.

We need you, because you possess qualities that Lissa does not. Once we combine your blood with Lissa and Sydney's, _my _Strigoi will be nearly invincible. Imagine waking up to a real Strigoi inside of a Spirit dream. Oh, I nearly forgot. All of the Strigoi will obey my every word."

"Why?" I asked, genuinely curious.

She smiled, again. "I'm not about to divulge all of my secrets" she said, calmly. She paused, briefly. Then she continued. The first experiment is about to be brought in. Have a seat, Mr. Ivashkov."

The hair on the back of my neck stood up. My throat was dry. _How can you beat an army of nearly invincible Strigoi? _Moments later, the doors opened and two men walked in, half dragging, half carrying a Moroi man between them.

At first, I didn't recognize him. He looked familiar, but I didn't know where I had seen him before. Then, I remembered who he was. He had been the man that had opened up our court session. He had been the man, who stood in the middle of the court room with a microphone, and made announcements.

The two men brought him closer, so that he was standing right in front of us. I could see that he was very pale. He looked like he had not eaten in a few days. He had dark shadows underneath his eyes. He was shaking and sweating. He looked at me and I saw recognition in his face.

"Mr. Ivashkov, you are a part of this?" he asked, sounding confused.

Alicia answered, before I could say anything. "Actually, Mr. Ivashkov is just like you. He is very innocent in all of this. I just brought him along so that he could watch the demonstration."

The man seemed to hear her, but he said nothing. "Bring in the Strigoi" Alicia commanded.

One of the men in front of us, left to go get the Strigoi. A Strigoi entered and walked over to where we were sitting. The other man stood back, leaving just enough space for the Strigoi to reach his victim. I realized what was going to happen just before it did.

The Strigoi used its teeth, and bit his own skin. Then he grabbed the man and forced him to drink his blood. The man was not even able to struggle against the Strigoi. The Strigoi then, grabbed the man and sank his teeth into him. I cringed and backed away. "Stop it,!" I said horrified.

I couldn't believe that this was happening. The man's body went limp and the Strigoi dropped him to the ground. Within a couple of minutes, the man began to move. He awoke and opened his now, red eyes. He stared straight at me, like he was looking at a buffet.

He began to walk toward me, his blood red eyes, brimming with longing. "No, I need him" Alicia said. The newly created Strigoi stopped in his tracks. Alicia stood up. She handed the Strigoi a small vial. He opened it and gulped it down. "That was one vial of Lissa and Sydney's blood mixed together. I've been taking these small vials for the past two weeks. I now have enough of them that the Strigoi can all drink."

Alicia got out her cell phone. She called someone and told them to bring others. The next two hours were torture. I watched in horror, as about twenty more Moroi and Dhampirs were turned into Strigoi against their will.

"Ok, Alicia you've proved your point. You can turn anyone that you want to. Let Sydney go. Let everyone else go. If you need me for something, I'll do it. Please don't harm my friends."

"I appreciate your cooperation Mr. Ivashkov. However, I would like to turn one more person, before I call it a day."

The doors opened one more time and two men brought in the next victim. Terror shot through my body, as I realized who was standing in front of me. The guards were trying to hold back Eddie, who was still attempting to fight. He was weak. He looked as though he hadn't eaten much in the past couple of days. I hadn't seen him up close for a while. He had looked a little bit better when I had seen him last.

"Adrian," Eddie said. He was also confused as to what was going on. Once again, Alicia gave a brief explanation.

"Eddie you should say goodbye to your brother. You might not feel like talking, once you become Strigoi."

"What are you talking about? I don't have a brother!" Eddie yelled.

"Adrian would you care to explain?"

I sighed. I didn't know how I was going to say this. "Eddie" I said, slowly. "We're brothers."

A look of blatant disbelief shot through his eyes. "That's crazy." I nodded my head.

"I know I didn't believe it either, at first" I said, calmly.

"Ok, that's enough. I can't take any more sentiment. We are doing this now" Alicia said.

The doors opened again and another Strigoi stepped through. I didn't realize who he was until he was standing in front of me. My whole body went rigid. I was nearly as pale as the Strigoi. I looked at Eddie and saw that his reaction was incredibly similar to mine.

I was staring into the cold, red eyes of Ian Jansen. "This isn't possible. You're dead. I saw you. You were decapitated. Ian walked toward me so that he was standing just inches from my face. He laughed in a way that made me feel like glass would shatter.

"That was a trick. Sydney hurt me, but that was all. She saw what we wanted her to see. You saw what we wanted you to see."

"How?" I asked, with beads of sweat pouring down the side of my face.

"You know, a little of magic can go a long way" Ian said.

I stared at Alicia. "You did that. You were there. You were in the library with us?"

Alicia shook her head. "It wasn't me. You'll find out soon enough, who that was. For now, we have to get down to business. Ian get Eddie. You know the procedure."

Ian walked over to Eddie, taking him away from the two guards. I rushed forward, attempting to kick out at Ian and punch him. I knew that my attempts would be futile, but I had to try anyhow. I was able to confuse the guards for a few seconds. I had just gotten past the guards. I was standing right in front of Ian.

The next thing I knew, I was on my back on the ground. My head was throbbing. "I'm sorry I had to do that to you" Alicia said. "I can't have you ruining everything."

She turned toward Ian. "Do it now" she said.

Ian obeyed. He held Eddie back with one hand. Then he took his wrist and cut into it with his teeth. He forced Eddie to drink his blood. Then he took Eddie and sank his teeth into Eddie's neck.

I screamed out loud. I tried to stand up, but I was feeling very dizzy from slamming my head on the ground. I closed my eyes, unable to watch anymore. The next time that I opened my eyes, it was over. Eddie was lying on the floor.

The next few minutes, were the hardest that I had ever lived through. I knew that Eddie was technically _alive. _ However, I couldn't get over the fact that he wasn't Eddie anymore. He was someone else entirely. I had just learned that I had a brother, only for him to be taken from me hours later.

Suddenly, he began to stir. Eddie sat up and opened his eyes. I had to hold back tears, as I saw the redness in them. He stood up and looked at me. I knew that he recognized me. Strigoi didn't lose their memory when they were turned. He looked like he wasn't sure what to do.

"It's alright, Eddie. You may follow Ian to your chambers. I will be there shortly to discuss what is going to happen," Alicia said in a soothing voice.

Eddie nodded. He looked at me, one last time before he left. "Goodbye Eddie," I said, as he walked out the door.

A few moments later, there was a knock at the door. Marcus was with someone else. It didn't take too long before I saw who it was. Lissa was walking next to Marcus. She was making her way over to where I was still standing.

"What's going on Lissa? Are you ok?"

Lissa looked at me, sorrowfully. "I'm sorry Adrian," she whispered.

Alicia looked from me to Lissa. "You wanted to know how we tricked you and Sydney. Lissa has very strong Spirit magic. She can make you see things that aren't real. It's difficult to get the Queen away from her duties.

It isn't impossible though. Sometimes, she just needs to go and visit, a college, let's say. Lissa's security isn't quite as good for a trip like that. It wouldn't be impossible to take her Alchemist headquarters and have her hide nearby. I wouldn't blame her for it though. It's not like I gave her much of a choice."

"You crazy, horrible-

I never got a chance to finish my insult. Alicia's phone rang, interrupting me. "Yes? What is it?" she asked.

She hung up the phone quickly. "We're under attack" she informed Marcus. "Make sure that you kill every last one of them."

The cavalry had arrived. The question was: _Were they already too late?_


End file.
